Now that we are home, safe and sound in Santa Monica, people have asked me questions like “So, what did you learn out there sailing around the seven seas?” and “What was your favorite part of the trip?” and “Weren’t you scared???”  I’ve pondered these questions and it’s hard to come up with a succinct answer.  

One  thing I learned this past year is that I’m braver than I thought – yay me! And Jeff is definitely braver than I realized – just wait to read his blog entry about the Baja Bash.  The trip WAS scary sometimes, especially when we were a long way from land, sailing at night, or in really remote locations – which was a lot of the time, especially sailing down Baja and crossing the Sea of Cortez.  Being responsible for my kids and sometimes additional crew made things all the more stressful.  At the same time, I think Jeff and I handled the stress well and maybe became more responsible people for it.  

Another thing I think we learned is that people don’t need as much STUFF – material things – to survive.  A cruiser friend of ours noted that there just aren’t as many stores in many places in Mexico to buy STUFF – like more frivolous consumer goods – like a back massager or plastic toys or swishy clothes.  Many people just don’t have extra income for all these non-essential things so they just aren’t sold.  Of course there are places to buy cheap chotskies at weekly markets, but in remote areas they just aren’t widely accessible. There was far less prepared food available as well, like Trader Joe’s frozen gyoza or oven french fries.  I already liked to cook, but I had to do a lot more cooking from scratch than I was used to.  And in the process I learned a bunch of new recipes.   So I guess the lesson here is can we get by with a lot less stuff than we think.  That’s probably a good thing.

After sailing so far and into so many new places, Jeff and I are much better sailors than we were.  Catalina used to seem like a big sailing adventure, but now it seems so much more tame. We are now really excited to finally get up to the Channel Islands to go check things out.  This used to seem like a huge challenge; now it just seems like a manageable day sail.  All of this said, I do think all of our previous sailing experience around Southern California and Catalina was really good preparation for sailing down to Mexico.  While we didn’t have much overnight experience, we were able to build up to it as we hopped down to San Diego, Ensenada, and then down the Baja Coast.  The one thing we didn’t have as much experience with was anchoring, but we knew enough to get us going.  

There were many difficult times on the boat.  Times when we felt sea sick, or cramped, or hot(!), or annoyed with each other, or worried, or even just plain bored.  But there were many times we witnessed so much beauty, in the sea and in each other.  Mega pods of dolphins.  Thousands of year old cave paintings.  Birds hitching rides on sea turtles’ backs.  Soaring mountains.  Moonrises over the sea.  Crazy phosphorescence.  Ukuleles jamming.  The good balances the bad, I think.

So now we are home in our cozy little apartment in Santa Monica.   Hurricane Hilary is sweeping across Baja and we are thinking of our courageous cruiser friends still in Mexico, weathering the storm.  And we also keep thinking of our wonderful friends in the South Pacific and those who are back home for the summer or for good, and hoping they are well.  I also think about all the people who helped us on our journey, both leaving to go and returning to our land life:  Jeff’s mom, my mom and dad, Kenji, Satchel, Christina, Nathan, Amy, Mike, Behan and Jamie – and I’m sure I’m leaving people out!  But many people helped us make this dream a reality and we appreciate all of their support from the bottom of our hearts.

We went surfing yesterday.  We are able to walk down five blocks and surf at the foot of Bay St, just south of Santa Monica Pier. If I can surf a few times a week for the rest of my life, I’ll be happy. The girls are settled in our new home and excited for the new school year to begin.  Josie is trying out for cross-country and wants to be in the school musical.  LouLou is excited for second grade and to play soccer. In some ways it seems like we never left, but in other ways, we are definitely different people.  As a family, we are closer.  The girls are more confident and mature. We are by far more confident mariners.  A long time ago, someone said to me “Never get too comfortable.”  I think that our trip shook us out of our comfort zone and we have returned better for it.  

Was it all worth it?  Heck yeah it was.  

It’s crazy to think that our time living aboard is wrapping up.  In about two weeks, I (Sarah) will be hopping on a plane with Josie and LouLou and headed back to Los Angeles.  Wild!  We will be reflecting on this whole trip for a long time to come.

We last left off in La Paz with the dune buggies. We also made it to the Whale Museum. This was an awesome spot. Apparently it has more whale skeletons than any other museum in the world? We had a great tour and the kids really enjoyed it.

After a few more days sweating it out on the Malecon during the day and eating ice cream along it at night and provisioning, provisioning, provisioning for the Sea, we set off to Playa Balandra, just 10 miles north of La Paz.  What a spectacular place!  Crystal clear, sparkling turquoise water – soaring cliffs with mushroom shaped rocks – incredible snorkeling.  This was the beginning of the real Sea of Cortez – complete with crazy wind howling through the anchorage at 2am.  Fortunately, we were tucked in nicely out of the swell and our anchor held solid.  

Continuing on up the coast we had a gorgeous wing on wing sail over to the Isla de Espirtu Santos.  Another stunning spot.  We would have liked to spend more time on this famous island, but the wild westerly winds – the infamous Corumel – kept us on our toes every night.  Plus, we were hurrying a bit to meet up with a friend further north for a birthday party.  

Zooming north, we spent Mother’s Day at Isla San Francisco – simply stunning.  Then we headed to Puerto Los Gatos – again – simply stunning.  The red rocks reminded me of Joshua Tree. All of these places we would have liked to have spent more time.   

Finally we made it to Agua Verde, another gorgeous bay, but this time we had some time to relax.  The birthday bonfire was a smash hit.  It was great to catch up with some other kid boats and enjoy a gorgeous sunset.  The hermit crab races were also a blast – and LouLou’s crab won! 

Agua Verde was definitely a favorite stop.  It has several anchoring spots that are all beautiful.  We were tucked in the south anchorage and we were able to swim to Pyramid Rock, which had amazing snorkeling – and I saw the first starfish of the whole trip.  Another fun part of Agua Verde were the sweet little goats.  There is a goat dairy with good goat cheese, and at night the goats roam the cliffs surrounding the water and their bells tinkle through the twilight. 

 Our last day in Agua Verde, we headed out on a hike to see some cave paintings.  This was an incredible hike, taking us to an old cemetery, a palm oasis, a windswept beach, and finally, to a cave high up in the cliffs with 7000 year old hand prints.  It was really special seeing this and made us appreciate the ancient history of Baja.  

After several days in Agua Verde, we decided to head up to Puerto Escondido, a gorgeous marina about 10 miles south of Loreto.  Puerto Escondido is a popular spot because it has an enormous protected harbor, with the benefits of flat water and a modern marina.  We appreciated our time here as we got ourselves cleaned up (i.e. laundry!) and provisioned to head north up to the Bahia Concepcion.  

We rocketed up to Bahia Concepcion, a large bay about a third of the way up Baja.  We had favorable currents so we made excellent time and managed to get to the entrance of the bay before sunset.  Our friends on Eventide were already there and we found them down in Playa Santa Barbara the next morning.  We had a great time coming up with Eventide and the kids had a blast exploring the anchorage.  We also had a fun day making butter tarts on Ohana – yum!  Another incredible moment was heading deep into Concepcion to an unmarked anchorage to hike up an unnamed arroyo to find more cave paintings.  This was truly a National Geographic moment – and it was absolutely amazing to see all of these cave paintings that are not very well known.  

After a few days in Santa Barbara we moved over to Playa Burro, which was a gem of an anchorage.  There was a wacky campground on the beach and a perfect beachside coffee shop – which we spent many hours at and I now aim to decorate our new apartment exactly like.  Also, no cave paintings but dozens of petroglyphs right behind the coffee shop.  Fantastic!  

We returned to Playa Santo Domingo for a few days at the mouth of Concepcion and then headed south towards San Juanico.  What a gorgeous spot!   We stayed in the northern anchorage of La Ramada due to southerly winds.  This was a perfect little Sea of Cortez spot.  White sand beach, turquoise water, awesome snorkeling, fun hiking trails.  We had a great few days there and we finished off with a super fun birthday party for six-year-old Cora on Eventide.  Shark cake and ukuleles – super fun!

Continuing south, we anchored at Islas Coronado, an incredible volcanic island.  This may have been the absolute perfect spot – again – there are not enough superlatives! We met up with a bunch more kid boats and had a wonderful beach day in the white sand dunes.  More incredible snorkeling and a pretty extreme hike to the top of a volcano at sunset.  This hike was complete with scorpions, tarantulas, and rattlesnakes – yes we saw them all 😉  Some fun dinner and pot lucks as well, with kiddos dinghying around the anchorage.  

By early June it was time to start thinking about our final plans.  We decided to head into Loreto town and then to Puerto Escondido again for a week.  We had a part arriving to fix our windlass (which had gone kaput in Bahia Concepcion) and needed to clean up the boat and provision in preparation for our friend and crew Kenji.  Kenji is a good friend who crewed with us back in the fall down the Pacific Side of Baja.  He is joining Jeff to help sail Ohana back up to Los Angeles.  This can be a challenging, upwind passage, so we have decided it would be best for the girls to sit this one out.  I am going to fly back to Los Angeles on June 18th and then up to Canada on June 28th.  It’s all coming rapidly to an end.  

I do feel ready to go home.  We have seen amazing things and made fabulous memories, but I am looking forward to seeing family and friends – and having access to a bathtub 😉  But what a year.  So many people and places.  So many sunsets.  So many miles of wild blue yonder.

We finally (FINALLY!) left La Cruz on April 22nd.  We were absolutely ready to get going after having spent over a month in and around Banderas Bay.  We had made a brief trip over to Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta, which was a very fun change of pace for a few days from La Cruz.  Paradise Village is essentially a very touristy resort that happens to have a marina attached.  It has three enormous pools and a giant crocodile water slide.  There is also a gorgeous beach, a mall, restaurants, and oodles of other amenities.  The marina itself is also really well run, with potable water at the dock, in-slip pump out, and excellent security.  The Vallarta Yacht Club was also a lovely place to hang as well.  While Paradise Village was a lot of fun, it felt in many ways like we could have been back in the United States.  That’s not the worst thing for a few days, but when you’re sailing in Mexico, it seems a bit off after a while.  I will say, LouLou was NOT happy when we left and had her biggest meltdown of the trip as we left the dock:  “I want to go down the crocodile slide!!!!” Aw well.

After Paradise Village, we returned to the La Cruz anchorage and started our serious preparations to head north.  We were waiting for a good weather window to leave, which really meant a few days where the north winds calmed down, or preferably switched to southerly wind, so we could actually sail north.  Apparently, this normally happens a bit earlier, but this year it was closer to the end of April.  We also really wanted to be sure the engine was working well after our difficult passage around Cabo Corrientes.  So we (i.e. Jeff) added a Racor fuel filter and changed our old fuel filters to help with any gunk that may have accumulated in the fuel lines.  So we finally, FINALLY(!), left La Cruz on April 22nd, and headed just about 10 miles away, to Punta Mita, located at the northern entrance to Banderas Bay.  

Punta Mita turned out to be a huge surprise for us, especially having spent so much time just down the “road.”  I had thought that it would be a really exposed, rolly anchorage – when it was in fact a gorgeous spot with glorious views and a beautiful, white sand beach.  It was a wee bit rolly, but no worse than the La Cruz anchorage.  We also went ashore and explored the sleepy town, which was a pleasant mix of Mexican tiendas, surf shops, and a few more upscale cafes.  Honestly, if we had realized how nice it was in Punta Mita, we would have spent more time out there earlier! 

After a few days, it looked like our weather window was opening and we decided to head up the coast to San Blas.  I had gone back and forth about the best route north many, many times.  Initially we were going to head straight offshore on an overnight passage to Isla Isabel.  But this seemed a bit dicey having still not absolutely proven that our engine wouldn’t konk out again – especially important if we were going to beat into any north wind.  We thought about Chacala, but while that is supposed to be gorgeous, it is also supposed to be super rolly and it is recommended  using a stern anchor, which seemed like a lot of work for one night.  So it seemed like San Blas could be a great option.  San Blas would be about a 50 mile sail up the coast, with a wide open anchorage we had already visited.  If anything happened with the engine, we could bail out into a number of smaller anchorages and also sail onto anchor in Matachen Bay.  Many contingencies!  So we set off, early in the morning, set the sails, rounded Punta Mita, and finally escaped Bandera Bay. 

We sailed much of the trip up the coast, and arrived in San Blas just before sundown.  I was thrilled to be there.  It really is a gorgeous bay, if it wasn’t for the mean ole’ jejenes, tiny, nasty, biting insects.  Anchoring well off the beach kept us from getting too many bites, but we still got a few – so we set off right at sunrise the next morning for Isla Isabel.  This was only a 40-mile hop now, a comfortable morning ride.  Early in this trip I caught a Jack Crevalle, our first big fish since Baja in the fall – hurray!  Jack Crevalle aren’t the best eating, but we did fry it up and it wasn’t too bad.  It just felt good to have actually caught it ourselves.  Jeff did hook a dorado, but it got away – boo!  

Around noon, we pulled into Isla Isabel, a tiny volcanic island about 30 miles off the coast.  It is supposed to be a tricky anchorage due to poor holding over a rocky bottom, but we got lucky and found a great sandy patch right beside one of the beautiful, towering Monas, rocky islets just off the east coast of the island.  We had surprisingly good protection there, with maybe less roll than we had had in San Blas.  What a beautiful stop!

Mexico’s little Galapagos

The next morning, we dinghied around to the south side of the island to a small fishing village tucked in a little rocky bay.  We parked the dinghy ashore and hiked up a steep trail to a ridge overlooking the whole island.  What an incredible hike!  Isabel is a national park, and it is known for its enormous bird population.  So many birds!  Hitchcock would be impressed.  The most interesting bird was definitely the blue-footed booby, with its pale blue feet and nests all over the ground.  There were also enormous frigate birds and terns everywhere.  And I really mean everywhere!  Bird nests every five feet.  There were also tame iguanas running all over the ground.  So wild!  Kind of like a mini-Jurassic Park.  

We ended up spending five nights in Isabel, way longer than we had expected.  We had initially thought we would go north to Mazatlan and then cross over to Baja from there.  But a southerly was predicted and we decided just to wait for that, especially since we had such a great spot in the little anchorage.  Many of the other boats had the same plan as us, and often in the mornings we would dinghy around to each other’s boats and discuss weather and routes.  One morning we hiked up into the interior of the island to see the water-filled volcanic crater – super cool!  Many days we paddle boarded around the Monas and over to the rocky beach.  Another morning Josie and I were getting ready to swim and saw a sea snake – yikes!  That definitely gave us some pause before we jumped in for sure.  The day before we left I cooked a bunch of food in preparation for our upcoming two day sail – enchilada casserole, fusilli pasta, and rice.  

Finally, the morning came for us to set off on our 250 mile crossing to Ensenada de Muertos, a bay about 30 miles south of La Paz.  We left Isabel around 7am, and slowly made our way north, sailing and motor sailing for much of the first day.  It started out pretty much glassy calm.  Dolphins followed us for many hours, and sea turtles floated by with birds on their backs.  Night fell and the moon sparkled across the sea. We listened to MANY podcasts as we watched miles and miles of ocean slip by.  

The second day we watched the sun rise and we were way out of sight of land.  No engine needed today – the wind was the perfect angle.  It was a bit rolly at times, but manageable.  LouLou and I snuggled on the settee and watched some T.V.  We tried to fish but weren’t too lucky with that.  I kept trying to see the Baja coastline, expecting it to rise up to the west much sooner than it actually did.  Jeff wrote in his journal and experimented with MidJourney.  Josie binge-watched Outer Banks.  Amazingly, we didn’t see one boat this entire day.  I did see a shark fin slicing through the water though.  That night I was definitely pretty tired.  I don’t sleep all that well on passages.  I can handle one night pretty well, but a second night is a lot.  When it was my turn to go to sleep, the seas were beginning to settle down and I climbed in to our warm bunk – I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud.  That was a good sleep.  

When I woke up, the seas had completely calmed down and Jeff told me he could see land.  Hurray!  We were only about 30 miles from our destination.  It was so wonderful to arrive in Muertos.  It was funny too – almost all of the boats in the anchorage had been with us in Isabel.  

Muertos is a lovely anchorage and the first place we saw the beautiful turquoise water that the Sea of Cortez is known for.  We couldn’t really see it where we anchored, but when we dinghied ashore and looked behind us, the whole bay was sparkling blue-green.  Just beautiful!  

We spent that night resting after the long passage, and then in the morning we set off again, this time for La Paz.  While this was a much shorter trip, it was a bit tricky sailing through the Cerralvo Channel.  Fortunately, the wind was not funneling out of the north, but there were 20+ knot winds out of the west that we hit entering the channel.  It was definitely some sporty sailing for sure.  But Ohana is a good boat, and she sailed along, happily gliding through the white caps.  After about two hours, the wind completely died, and so we motored.  And then the wind returned, so we sailed.  And then it died.  And then it picked up.  It was a very up and down ride!  As we turned the corner into the San Lorenzo Channel, we spotted our friends on Sarama coming from the north.  They had crossed from Mazatlan and stayed on Espiritu Santo for a few nights.  It was really fun sailing side by side as we entered Bahia de La Paz together.  

This was an exciting time, finally seeing all of the famous anchorages we had been reading about for so many years.  We were really in the Sea of Cortez!  And now all the anchorages would be so much closer together – 10 mile hops instead of 100 miles.  Love it.  

We reached La Paz around 4pm in the after and motored up the five mile long channel entering La Paz harbor.  We had heard anchoring could be a bit weird here, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect.  Some friends were already parked in the anchorage, so we steered over to meet them, but immediately aborted that attempt as the depth was only seven feet!!  Yikes.  Fortunately, another boat we had been in Isabel with pulled in beside us and showed us a good spot outside of Marina de la Paz, which is where we are now.  It is mostly flat calm here, with glorious sunrises and sunsets.  The La Paz waltz is definitely a real thing, due to the currents and the wind fighting against each other.  But we seem to be holding well and we aren’t too near any other boats.

La Paz so far is lovely.  We have some friends from down south who are here and we’ve enjoyed walking up and down the beautiful Malecon.  Club Cruceros is a great spot for chatting with other cruisers.  And there is a very cool beachside skate park for Josie.  Also, the Dos Mares desert car race is going on right now – dune buggies everywhere! So all is well.  We will stay here for a few more days to provision and then we are headed north, into the magical Sea of Cortez.

Once again it’s been a looooong while since a blog post; it is time to catch up.  I have no excuse now too because we are hanging out in La Cruz for way longer than we expected.  Lots has happened since we left off on the Gold Coast.  

After about two months bouncing between Tenecatita and Barra de Navidad, we started to make our way north in early March.  First we went to Bahia Chamela, which turned out to be a lovely anchorage and maybe my favorite beach on the whole trip.  It seemed to be the least gringo-fied area we had encountered, and the white sand beach went on for miles.  It was a bit of a rolly anchorage at first due to a southerly swell, but that calmed down after a day or so.  We also spent an afternoon snorkeling and playing on the beach in the islands within Bahia Chamela with our friends on SV Tiamat, which was lovely.  Gorgeous scenery too!  Really rugged islands with cactus poking out on all sides.  Very pirate-y.    I wish we could have spent a bit more time there.  

After about three days in Chamela, it was time to head north, back around the dreaded Cabo Corrientes (Cape of Currents).  We had no real experience bashing back into northerly wind and swell – and it was a bit of a baptism by fire shall we say.  We left at about 9pm, and while the wind had died down, the swell certainly had not.  We were motoring along at about 6 knots, but we probably should have been going less than 5.  We were bucking up and down like a rodeo bronco.  Before long, the kayak and paddleboard went over the side.  Fortunately they were still attached to the boat, so we managed to secure them.  Jeff and I decided we would both stay in the cockpit, rather than take our turns going down below to sleep as we normally do during night passages.  It just seemed too rocky and rolly.

We were making decent headway motoring directly into the wind until about 5am, just about 15 miles south of Banderas Bay, when our engine shut off.  We got the sails up and then tried to start the engine again.  It started, but then died.  And again – and again.  Argh!   From 5am to about 11am we crawled around Cabo Corrientes, until the wind picked up and we were able to motor at about 3 knots, pinching the wind.  Looking back, we think that we had some gunk that got stuck in our fuel line that was stirred up due to the severe rocking of the boat.  We haven’t had any other issues with the engine since we have returned, but we have installed new fuel filters to be on the safe side.  

Once we finally rounded the cape, we were becalmed for about two or three hours near Yelapa. Yay! For a while I thought we would be bobbing around Banderas Bay all night.  But finally, we found some wind and we sailed into the La Cruz anchorage at a good clip.  We arrived around 5pm, and immediately went out to tacos with all of our friends.  I was very, very tired, but also very, very happy to have that crazy passage over with. 

We spent a few days in La Cruz catching up with our friends who were getting ready to set off to the South Pacific (and who are already there as I write this – woohoo!).  Then we flew to Mexico City, which was definitely a highlight of our entire trip.  What a fantastic city!  I just can’t say enough about what an interesting, artistic, clean, affordable, cosmopolitan city it is.  We had a great AirBnB in Zona Rosa, which allowed us to walk to many places, and was surprisingly, a great place for Korean BBQ, which was absolutely our first dinner out – lol.

 Our first full day we went to Centro and explored the Templo Mayor, which seems to be ground zero for Mexico.  It is a major archeological site right in the heart of the city.  We also saw the enormous Zocalo with its gigantic Mexican flag.  From there we walked to the Alameda Park and the Diego Rivera Mural Museum.  Just lovely. 

The next day we headed to Teotihuacan, the ancient pyramids about an hour’s bus ride out of the city.  The bus ride itself was interesting as we saw just how vast the urban sprawl is around the city, colorful buildings climbing up mountains and through valleys for miles.   Teotihuacan was fascinating, and enormous.   We walked by the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Sun, and the Pyramid of the Moon.  Definitely an awe-inspiring, beautiful place.  

The next few days we enjoyed some time just being in a city and some non-boat life.  I took MANY hot showers and enjoyed more than a little time reading in a big bed.  Jeff and Josie rented a scooter and went to a library cafe.  Josie did a great job researching interesting art galleries and cafes and we went to quite a few – this was an unexpected highlight of the trip!  We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t get tickets for the Frida Kahlo Museum (hot tip – you need to buy them several days in advance!),  but we did go to the Modern Art Museum in Bosque Chapultepec ], which was lovely and has the famous “Two Fridas” painting.  

Another day we went to the largest mall in Mexico, Centro Santa Fe, which had a skating rink (!).  So yes, we all went ice skating in  Mexico City.  What a world!  After the mall we headed to Xochilmilco, which is a very unique spot and slightly hard to explain.  It is basically a series of ancient canals where you can hire brightly colored boats to take you and friends for a picnic on the water and listen to some mariachi…  It was super fun, but we were probably squeezing too much into an already busy day … after all, we had already been ice skating 😉 

The next day, we toured the Museo de Antropologia, the massive history museum, also in Bosque Chapultepec.  Another incredible experience!  The building itself is spectacular, with its enormous courtyard and towering fountain.  Each hall covers an aspect of Mexico’s history, weaving inside and outside exhibits.  Having visited Teotihuacan just days earlier made it especially interesting as well, as they had an entire hall dedicated to it.  I was really amazed at how both Josie and LouLou spent five hours captivated by the entire museum.  

The next day it was time to head back to the airport to fly to Houston!  Why Houston, you might ask?  Well we technically needed to leave the country to reinstate our 180-day tourist visa, but unfortunately, when we returned to Mexico two days later, no one even looked at our passports.  Apparently they don’t do the paper visas anymore, and everything is tracked digitally via the passports…  I’m not so sure!  Anyhow, Houston was the closest (and cheapest) city to fly to renew – AND we got to check out the awesome Houston Space Center while we were there.  We also stocked up on snacks from Trader Joe’s.  Maybe not equally important ventures, but both were quite satisfying 🙂  

We returned to La Cruz later in March intending to head north within a week of our return, but we are slow.  We have been working on a few boat projects, plus we have been waiting for a decent weather window that will allow us to visit Isla Isabella on our way north.  We’ve also done some deep provisioning so we are ready for two months up in the Sea of Cortez.  And some friends we hadn’t seen finally arrived…and it’s almost Easter…

Next stop – the Sea of Cortez!  I can’t wait to get there.  

After several weeks in La Cruz, it was time to head south towards the beautiful Gold Coast, about 100 miles south of Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay.  Our first stop would be Tenacatita, the storied anchorage we would return to again and again over the next two months.  Tenacatita is a glorious parking spot for several reasons:  

• super protected due to it being a “bay within a bay”
• long, deserted sandy beach lined with palm trees
• jungle tour up a meandering river, complete with mangroves and crocodiles
• excellent snorkeling 
• beautiful scenery
• laid back palapa restaurant
• …and a fun little surf break! 

We loved our time there.  

Another huge factor of loving this place was all of the kid boats we met and spent many (many!) afternoons hanging at the beach with.  We developed a close community and that added so much to the trip.  And there were so many kids for Josie and LouLou to hang out with!  Many afternoons slipped away into twilights surfing and chatting on the sand.  We had pot lucks and Ultimate Frisbee games.  Jeff led a photo expedition up the lagoon to find crocodiles.  One morning, the older kids met on Ohana for pancakes, boat school, and surfing.  Jeff went spearfishing with the other dads.  LouLou spent hours swimming and playing in the sand with her buddies.  Once a week, we would head three miles across the bay to pretty La Manzanilla to buy some more supplies.   At night, we played with our ukulele band, the formidable Tres Ukes. Jeff shot some incredible drone footage of a mama and baby humpback whales.  It was magical, and I know when I remember our year in Mexico that Tenacatita will be the highlight.  

About ten miles south of Tenacatita is another lovely spot, Barra de Navidad.  We stayed in the marina several times, enjoying the fabulous facilities, including a three level pool with TWO waterslides.  You can guess that Josie and LouLou had an excellent time there.  The grounds of the hotel connected to the marina are stunning, and we spent many hours exploring the expansive property.  One particularly interesting location was the abandoned hotel, a beautiful building that had been completely left empty.  Josie and her friends visited several times and even found some bats!  Spooky.  Another fun adventure in Barra was hiking out to the secret beach on the ocean side of the resort.  Super strong waves prevented any swimming, but the views were amazing – sweeping vistas of white sand and crashing whitewater spilling for miles south.  

My Aunt Kathryn and her friend Peggy came to visit us when we were staying in Barra.  It was so great to have a visit from someone from home.  Kathryn has been coming to stay in colorful Melaque, a beachside town just north of Barra, for many years.  We spent an afternoon in Melaque visiting Kathryn as well, and we stocked up on provisions at Super Hawaii.

On December 13th, we woke in the early morning darkness, ready to leave San Blas for La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, a small town on the northern shore of Banderas Bay, about 20 miles from Puerto Vallarta.  It was an easy trip and we were excited to arrive because my parents were already there.   As we rounded Punta Mita into beautiful Banderas Bay, whale spouts shot out of the water.  It was glorious.  

Well, glorious until the engine died…five seconds after calling my parents to tell them we would be in the anchorage in about an hour. We had been motoring because there was very little wind at this point, so we were now moving quite slowly.  It was going to be more than an hour!  Fortunately, of all places for this to happen, this was really the best possible location.  The wind picked up slightly and we were able to move forward under sail between 4-5 kts for about 30 minutes, bringing us much closer to the La Cruz anchorage.  However, after those 30 minutes, we rounded a point and the wind really died.  Inching towards our destination at about 1 knot, thoughts of dropping the dinghy and towing ourselves in came to mind.  Yikes!  Ever so slowly we were getting to where we needed to be.   Finally, we made it to the outskirts of the anchorage.  Just as we dropped the anchor, more whales appeared off our starboard side, backdropped by the mountains of beautiful Banderas Bay.  

As soon as we had the anchor secured, we hopped in the dinghy and drove to shore, looking for my mom and dad.  What a sight to see them waving from the hotel pool on the shore.  It was a pretty amazing moment, having traveled all that way and now standing there hugging my mom and dad. 

The next week we spent visiting with my mom and dad, hanging around at their fabulous beachside pool and exploring the town of La Cruz.  We also got our engine fixed, which fortunately was just a matter of adding more fuel and bleeding the lines.  Another sailing family we knew arrived at this time as well and we spent a lot of time with them, especially Josie.  

Once the boat was back up and running, we moved into the marina so that we would have easier access to my parents.  Marina Riviera Nayarit is a gorgeous spot to while away for a few days, or weeks.  Situated in a perfect location, lined with palm trees and mountains on all sides, it provides an excellent place to relax, reprovision, and conquer any necessary boat projects.  Pink and purple sunrises and sunsets were one of my favorite times, especially from where we were docked alongside the breakwater.  

After a few days of relaxing with my parents and our friends, we decided to do a day sail over to Yelapa, a little town tucked in the jungle across the bay.  My parents had been there previously and were eager to return.  After a bit of a rolly ride over, and an even rollier mooring, we managed to get onto the shore with the help of a panga.  Yelapa is gorgeous.  Towering mountains, colorful buildings, crashing waves.  We had lunch under one of the palapas on the beach and then we headed out to find the waterfall high above the town.  This was a really fun hike, with the path weaving through the circuitous town, higher and higher through the jungle until we reached a gorgeous waterfall.  After a refreshing dip in the cool water, we returned to the beach and the boat.  Initially, we had planned on staying the night, but it was REALLY rolly, so we decided to head back for a sunset sail across the bay.  I’m really glad we did as well because it was a gorgeous ride, with some fabulous whale and dolphin sightings.  

After our trip Yelapa, it was time to get ready for Christmas! We found some tiny Christmas trees at the Mega Superstore, one for each of the girls.  Josie decorated hers with some original artwork;  LouLou used decorations brought from home.  

Next, we needed to dress the outside of the boat up for the marina Christmas light contest.  This was really fun.  Josie went up the mast for the first time to secure our lights to the spreaders.  We strung more lights around the life lines and around the boom.  Ohana was looking pretty festive, if I do say so myself!  We had heard that bribery worked on the judges, so the night of the contest we baked some cookies and Josie had them ready to hand out.  LouLou was looking especially cute in her Christmas apron.  We put on some Elvis Christmas music and we were ready!  The large contingent of judges arrived at 8pm and seemed pretty impressed with everything.  We didn’t end up winning, but it was definitely a fun event.  

We spent Christmas Eve on the boat with my parents.  We had a lovely dinner of risotto and mahimahi from the fish market in the marina.  There was a lot of discussion of how Santa would find us in Mexico and where he would “come down the chimney.”  After putting out milk, cookies, and carrots,  two very excited kiddos managed to go to sleep and the next morning, amazingly!, Santa did find us.  We had a nice Christmas morning relaxing and the girls played with their new toys.  Around lunchtime, we headed over to the pool to be with my mom and dad, and that night we had a delicious Christmas dinner at the Black Forest, an excellent German restaurant in La Cruz.  It was delicious and so great to be together with family for Christmas.  After dinner, we walked back through the main square in La Cruz, which was lit up with Christmas lights.  

Soon after Christmas, it was time for mom and dad to fly home to Canada.  We were sad to say goodbye, but it had been a great visit.  It was really special to share some of our cruising experiences with our family.  So glad they made it.

The next two weeks we spent getting some boat repairs done in La Cruz.  More of our kid boat friends arrived, which was great.  We spent many days hanging out at the pool in the marina with about a dozen kiddos jumping around.  Some highlights of this time were New Year’s Eve with our friends from Mandolyn and the dodgy fireworks; Josie and the skateboard train; the fabulous Sunday farmer’s market; our trip into Puerto Vallarta; movie nights in the amphitheater; and joining our friends on their amazing boat Eventide for the Banderas Bay Cup.  

La Cruz is a lovely place and definitely an easy place to get stuck.  Just as we were leaving, more and more kid boats were arriving and those last days were wonderful, hanging out with like-minded families, living the cruising life.  But we had been there for a LONG time, and it was time for us to move on. Next stop, Tenacatita!

After three days in Puerto San Carlos, the marina near San Jose del Cabo, we set off early in the morning for Mazatlán.  This was a major crossing for us, as it would take us about 175 nautical miles, one of our longest passages.  It also meant we would be the furthest offshore we would be up to this point, about 80 miles or so.  

Fortunately, it was one of our smoothest crossings.  It was literally flat calm in parts.  The sunset was glorious, very pink and clear as we watched the mountains of the Baja peninsula get smaller and smaller.  We almost ran into a sea turtle, who was just bobbing around in the middle of the sea.   The moonrise that night was quite beautiful too.  The moonrise and set is quite interesting at sea because you can follow it all the way up and down from the horizon.  Side note – the moon is really important at sea.  A full moon can make for a much easier night passage as it can make it much easier to see through the dark.  The effect of the full moon and new moon on the tides is also significant and can influence our navigation.

As the sun rose, we began to see the coast near Mazatlán, a welcome sight.  We could also smell smoke in the air, which seems to be pretty common in these parts.  Mazatlán has several tall mountains lying off its coast, with some shoal areas to stay clear of.  Our final destination was Isla Marina, in the new Marina district in the northern end of Mazatlán.  As we rounded the marina entrance, we were greeted with lush greenery and colorful birds.   We were definitely in the tropics now.   Our friends from Tiamat were waiting for us on the docks at Isla Marina.  It was great to see them after so long.  

Mazatlán turned out to be a surprisingly lovely stop.  Isla Marina was a comfortable place to stay and allowed us to explore the city with ease.  Uber and DiDi work well here, so we went into the city many times.  Some of the highlights of our time in Mazatlán were the colorful buildings of the historic core, the children’s museum, walking along the long Malecon, the diver’s near the mermaid statue, the aquarium, the baby sea turtle release, the Christmas parade, and the lighthouse hike.  If that sounds like a lot, it was!  I had no idea that Mazatlán was so rich and vibrant – and beautiful!  We also took a day trip to colorful El Quelite, a nearby town, with our friends from Tiamat.  

Mazatlán was a great place for us to regroup after having traveled so far in November.  We got back into serious boat schooling and also enjoyed the small pool at the marina.  After about 10 days, it was time to continue on, as my parents were flying down to meet us in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, about 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta.

To get to Puerto Vallarta, we first headed out around noon south towards San Blas, a smaller fishing town about 90 miles south of Mazatlan.  There had been some rough weather – a dreaded “Norther” – up in the Sea of Cortez in the days just before our departure and we definitely felt the residual, choppy swell.  In fact, this was the most seasick any of us felt on the entire trip and we actually considered aborting the trip and anchoring in the southern part of Mazatlan.  Fortunately, after about two hours the swell subsided enough to be manageable and we were able to sail comfortably for several hours until the wind died and we turned on the motor. 

The next morning, we anchored in Bahia de Matanchen, a beautiful, wide bay rimmed with tall mountains.  It was a lovely place.  We dinghied to the beach on the northern shore for some lunch at a palapa restaurant.  The beach was one of my favorites so far, with picturesque rocks, colorful hammocks, and a shrine with flowers to the Virgin de Guadalupe right on the beach.  

The second day we took a taxi into San Blas proper to get some money (umm…rooky mistake…we should have had more cash leaving Mazatlan!) and then we headed over to La Tovara Park to take the jungle tour.   The tour was definitely a highlight.   We all really enjoyed our panga ride meandering through the mangroves.  Josie started a crocodile count – over ten!  There were also various birds and turtles.  After about an hour, our driver dropped us off at a small zoo, where we could see more animals – and a whole lot of crocodiles – up close.  There was an inviting, cool swimming hole as well.  Later we went to another swimming spot, this one with a swing, and with a restaurant. Very fun!  After our tour was done, we walked back along the long beach and enjoyed some delicious banana bread from one of the many bakeries leading into the beach area.  

We soon headed back to the boat, hoping to avoid the jejenes (small biting insects) that are well-known in the area.  The sunset that night was glorious, with the girls going for a swim off the boat and Jeff making electronic music on the bow.  It was a happy, cozy time.

We really enjoyed our trip to San Blas, but I will say those jejenes, while we did try to avoid them and they didn’t seem too bothersome while we were there, were SUPER itchy after we left.  Jeff, Josie, and I were really suffering for a few days.  I still think it was worth going because it was so beautiful and the jungle tour was so much fun.  

Well, we are terrible bloggers.  This blog entry is going to capture the last four (!) months on the boat – lol!  It’s been a tremendous experience, and I’ll try to sum up as much as I can.

For much of September and October, we spent our lives immersed in boat projects in Long Beach.  I worked away at boat school with the girls and Jeff worked hard to complete our many boat projects – solar panels, lithium batteries, and a watermaker, oh my!   During this time we also celebrated both of the girls’ birthdays.  For LouLou’s we went to the Battleship Iowa, which was a great day out.  We also had a birthday party at Chuckee Cheese – very fun!  For Josie’s birthday, she went to a pop up video game cafe and an escape room with her friend Ellie.  Can’t believe both of the girls are getting so big!

Around the beginning of October, Jeff’s mom, Diane, was hospitalized due to throat cancer.  She had a major operation to remove a tumor.  Fortunately, she is on the mend now, but the road to recovery has been quite long.  This time was a challenging one for us as we tried to get the boat ready to set sail and manage to have time with Diane as she was undergoing surgery and then recovering.  

On October 18th, we finally cut lines and headed first to Avalon and then to San Diego.  Our friend Kenji, who would return as crew for Baja, joined us.  Avalon was a great first stop for us, having been a family favorite destination over the years.  It seemed like an easy way to cut ties, but not be too far away from home.  We ran into another family sailing (SV Eventide) to Mexico while we were there and the girls had a great time hanging out with some fellow boat kids.  We also did some lovely snorkeling off the Casino, including LouLou’s first official snorkel! 

After two days in Avalon, we set off around 10pm for our first overnight passage towards San Diego.  It was a beautiful, calm night and it went very smoothly.  We arrived at the San Diego Harbor Police Guest Dock around 9am the next morning.  What an amazing sight!  We truly enjoyed our time in San Diego – just a gorgeous city.  We got to know many other sailing families, many who were getting ready to do the Baja Ha-Ha.  We also finally finished our solar – battery installation with the help of Mike from Makaboatworks.  

While in San Diego, we enjoyed our time on Shelter Island.  LouLou and I spend lots of time at the playground.  We went to the USS Midway and the Maritime Museum.  I also took the girls to Point Loma National Monument – a spectacular park.  During this time, the boat was torn apart as we were quickly trying to finish our boat part installation.  Also, our crew of Kenji and our nephew Satchel arrived.  We capped it off with Halloween and then set sail to Ensenada.  

One note is that we ended up not participating in the Baja HaHa, after having signed up for it months earlier.  There were a number of factors that influenced our decision, including it leaving on Halloween – a real problem for our kid crew – and not having all the boat projects quite finished.  Another major issue though was the length of the HaHa passages, the first of which being three nights at sea.   This seemed very long for us, especially having just completed so many boat projects, and we felt that taking our time down the Baja Coast was a wiser decision.  I’m glad we did.

Ensenada was our first stop.  We left on November 1st.  It was an exciting overnight sail from San Diego with our new crew Kenji and Satchel standing watch.  It was a bit blustery and rolly leaving San Diego, but it calmed down a bit as the night progressed.  Crossing into Mexico and seeing the lights of Tijuana shining on shore seemed like quite a feat.  We were all very happy and excited to see our dot on our navigation chart cross over the imaginary border line. 

We arrived in Ensenada in the early morning, entering the harbor on the tail of a huge cruise ship.  Arriving in Ensenada was interesting because we didn’t have any reservations.  It is very busy that time of year and we knew that just arriving would be the best bet.  But we still didn’t know exactly where to go.  We first headed to Baja Naval and tried them on the radio, but it was quite early so no one was answering.  So we next headed over to Cruiseport Village and found a long “guest” dock to come alongside to as we figured out where we would stay.  Cruiseport was very accommodating and we were very happy to stay there for three nights.  This allowed us to check into Mexico and enjoy some time visiting Ensenada.  It was quite blustery and cold while we were there and we were excited to set sail further south.  

Our first destination down Baja was San Quintin.  IT was another overnight ride, bringing us in in the early morning.  I was especially excited for San Quintin because it seemed like our first truly “out there” destination.  I had also spoke about it many times with a former student who had a home there.  It sounded beautiful and we were not disappointed.  San Quintin is a very wide, open, shallow bay ringing with volcanic mountains.  We anchored the boat early in the morning and enjoyed the day swimming, fishing, and getting some rest.  Josie, Kenji, and Jeff went to shore, managing the first dinghy surf landing of the trip, and managing to get some awesome photos of the enormous sand dunes.  Satchel caught the first fish of the trip, a skipjack right at anchor We made ceviche and tacos for the rest of the day – delicious!

We left San Quintin at sunrise the next morning and headed down the coast for our next major destination, Turtle Bay (a.k.a. Bahia Tortugas).  This was a major crossing for us, as we had to go well offshore as we crossed over to Isla Cedros.  I was definitely a bit nervous for this one!  Fortunately, other than a bit of rolling and a bit of an issue with the autopilot that happily resolved itself, all went well.  Isla Cedros was a magical sight when I woke up to take my watch that morning, tall mountains illuminated by the full moon and early morning light together.   

Around this time, we noticed early the next morning we were only making about 3.5 knots while we were motoring, when we normally make at least 6.  This made me think that we must have caught some kelp on the prop, so we decided to head into Cedros Town to anchor, rather than push on to Turtle Bay.  Kenji radioed to the Port Captain, asking in Spanish for permission to enter the harbor.  Once permission was granted, we entered and dropped the hook.  It was a beautiful sight – a small, colorful fishing village clinging to desert hills.  I dove under the boat as well and we had picked up a ton of kelp.  We all really enjoyed this stop and would have liked to have stayed another day or two, but the weather did not look great so we decided to push on towards Turtle Bay the next morning.

We had a fabulous flat sail across to Turtle Bay, catching a few more tuna on the way.  It was thrilling to finally enter this enormous bay that we had heard and read so much about.  We dropped the anchor close to the precarious pier and I got to cooking up the fish Satchel had caught – catch and cook!  We spent several days resting and recuperating in Turtle Bay.  It was a lovely town, with a few markets and restaurants.  The little church here was beautiful – as was the one in Cedros – overlooking the bay.  Some highlights of Turtle Bay were exploring the deserted beach just north of the town and going fishing in the dinghy for rockfish.  Satchel caught TWO and we had beer-battered tacos for dinner – the best so far of the trip.  

After five days in Turtle Bay, we headed south to Bahia Asuncion, a fishing village about 60 miles down the coast.  This was a nice change because we could manage it in one day, rather than overnight.  This stretch was the fishing bonanza of the trip; we caught over 10 tuna, one weighing close to 20 pounds.  We only kept two, and even with those we were overloaded with fresh fish.  It was poke bowls for lunch, ceviche for snacks, and tacos for dinner.  Super delicious.  We arrived in Asuncion around sunset and dropped the anchor, happily near two other kid boats we knew.  

Asuncion was one of my favorite stops along the coast, but it was a bit bittersweet as well because we had to say goodbye to Satchel.  He was flying home for Thanksgiving.  We definitely missed him when he was gone!  After he was safely on his way to the bus stop,  we spent the rest of the day hanging around La Bufadora, a small hotel run by a Canadian woman overlooking a gorgeous rocky beach.  She let us do some laundry and I raced a bit getting it to hang dry before the sun went down!  As the laundry dried, we walked along the beautiful beach road to get some lunch in the town.  Later that night, Josie got together with some of the other kids her age and enjoyed some much needed kid time.  

We left Asuncion after two days, heading out in what turned into a bit of a wind storm.  The wind really whipped up the sea and took us a bit by surprise.  Fortunately, it calmed down after about two hours or so.  After this we headed offshore again towards Bahia Santa Maria.  This was another long, overnight passage, but things went relatively smoothly – although we did notice the alternator belt was fraying a bit(!).  Entering Bahia Santa Maria was a gorgeous sight.  The water entering the bay was crystal clear and we could see right to the bottom, with gorgeous green kelp and schools of blue fish floating below the keel.  We tucked into the bay near the fishing village.  

Bahia Santa Maria was a lovely stay.  It was a flat calm anchorage and with gorgeous scenery.  The beaches had amazing beachcombing and we collected enormous shells. There are mangroves just north of the town and we attempted to dinghy into them, but we kept bottoming out, so we only peeked into the entrance.   We also went for a hike up the mountains.at sunset.  Jeff played a lot with his drone, his new favorite toy, during this trip.    Just beautiful.  

We headed out the next morning for Magdalena Bay, just a 20-mile or so hop south.  We tucked into Man of War Cove outside, again finding our Canadian kid boat friends.  We really enjoyed this spot.  The town was very very remote and ramshackle.  North of the town was a “glamping” camp, which was a great hike.  South of the town were more mangroves.  This time we managed to get the dinghies through, with the other two kid boats, and we enjoyed meandering through the gorgeous maze of water.  

After three days, it was time to head south.  We were starting to run low on food and it was getting close to Thanksgiving and Kenji needed to fly home.  This was an exciting run, because the next stop was Cabo San Lucas!  It was also exciting because Jeff caught a dorado (mahi-mahi) and Kenji caught a Spanish mackerel.  We had a ton of fish!  We sailed through the night, a fairly calm passage, and began to round the cape in the early morning.  It was an impressive sight to finally see Land’s End, the famous rocky arches that mark the entrance to Cabo San Lucas.  

Cabo San Lucas, the day before Thanksgiving, is a bit of a zoo.  We anchored beside an enormous cruiseship and a kajillion-dollar mega yacht.  Jet skis and banana boats were everywhere.  The water was crystal clear and super warm.  But it was also super rolly, so not the most comfortable anchorage.  Also, taking the dinghy into the marina was bananas – wake everywhere!  We got swamped and soaked at least twice.  Still – it was all pretty impressive and we were pretty proud that we had made it all the way down Baja.  

On Thanksgiving morning, we rented jet skis ourselves (joining the masses!) and Josie especially had a great time tearing around the anchorage.  We sadly said goodbye to Kenji afterwards.  He had been a wonderful, reliable crewmate all the way down Baja.  Thank you Kenji!  That night, we had a great Thanksgiving dinner at an Italian restaurant in town – Salvatore Gs.  It was delicious, and the perfect celebration of Thanksgiving.  

That night was the rolliest I’ve ever experienced.  Ugh!  So we picked up the anchor the next morning and headed about 20 miles to San Jose del Cabo and its lovely marina.  It’s a pricey spot, but it was a good place to resupply before heading towards the mainland.  San Jose del Cabo itself is a beautiful, artsy town, with rainbow colored papel picado flying everywhere.  The marina itself was great as well.  There were several small, very affordable restaurants/cafes right beside the marina.  The marina itself is ringed with a walkway lined with sculptures.  The whole place was lovely and very comfortable.  It was the perfect stop before our big run across the Sea of Cortez towards Mazatlan.

Overall, the crew has been excellent.  We honestly couldn’t have asked for better crew than Satchel and Kenji.   Thank you both!  The girls both handled themselves throughout the long passages very well.  While they did get a bit sea sick, there was really nothing major on this stretch.  Josie spent much of the time reading Rick Riordan on her new Kindle and LouLou listened to a ton of Audiobooks.  She also watched her very favorite Disney show, Weird But True.  Jeff was in his element.  He was reading, listening to podcasts, and making music the whole time.

Truthfully, I was the one that went a bit stir crazy on the long passages.  I finally had to download my own audiobooks to help pass the time. This REALLY helped.  Podcasts were also good.  So was fishing, although I was never all that lucky with the fish.  But I found it very difficult to get much sleep, between watchkeeping, anxiety, and looking after LouLou.  It was okay though since none of our passages were more than one night and I feel that I can miss one night of sleep without major consequences. 

Jeff and I both loved our trip down Baja.  We had worked so hard to set sail and it was magical. We both wish we could have lingered a bit longer on this portion of the trip.  

We are just cruising back from Two Harbors in Catalina after a lovely four day trip to the island.  We started out in Emerald Bay, Jeff’s favorite place, and spent our first night surrounded by the beautiful turquoise water.  We woke up the next morning to see our Shoreline dock neighbors, Hardy, Regina, Ray, and Rhett on Webster, anchoring just off Indian Rock.  We paddled over and then the LouLou had a great time swimming and kayaking with her friends on the secret mermaid beach.  Josie woke up and brought some lattes over to Webster and they seemed to be much appreciated.  

After Emerald Bay, we headed over to the Isthmus and tied up to mooring M5.  We were excited to meet a fellow family. Mike and Kelly Keller, headed to Mexico this fall on their boat, Sarama.  LouLou and Josie both loved having some other kids (June and Charlie) to play with , and first they really enjoyed bouncing on our Lilypad (thanks Uncle Jayson!) and then playing at the beach.  It was really great to meet another family doing what we are doing, and being able to talk to them about things not everyone knows about concerning boat life!  We can’t wait to see them all again down in San Diego. 

We also met some other Mexico bound boats over the weekend, including our mooring neighbors, Rod and Shelley, and then their friends Laura and Gordon.  Can’t wait to get to Mexico and see everyone again!                       

The next day, we joined Shoreline Yacht Club for a hike over to Cat Harbor.  I always love this hike and it is always great to watch the girls bounding (and sometimes crawling) across the hot, dusty trail.  The reward of the trail is the end with the sweeping views of the Pacific and Cat Head.  Whenever I am out there I imagine pirate ships sneaking into covers under moonlight.  After a customary stop at the road swing near the Isthmus Yacht Club, we stopped for lunch at the Two Harbors Café and then headed back to the boat to clean up and get ready for the yacht club BBQ.  That was such a fun night – so many wonderful people telling us about their past adventures down in Mexico.  And such good food too!  The girls had a great time and so did we. We all definitely slept well that night.

The next morning we got up and it was Jeff’s birthday.  We had pancakes with whipped cream and got the boat ready for Jeff’s sister, Christina to arrive with her fiancé Filippo and her adorable little baby, Saylor.  They were arriving on the 1:30 ferry.  We all met on the beach and Mike and Kelly came to join.  What a great day!  Jeff and I got a snorkel in and the kids all played (again!) on the giant green lilypad.  Super fun!  Later we all returned to the boat and had got ready for Jeff’s birthday dinner.  Filippo made some delicious pasta and we had sugar cookies for dessert.  Then we just hung out on the boat, enjoying the sunset and trying to fish.  Jeff and Josie were finding stars using an app on the phone.  LouLou and Saylor played with the toy instruments.  It was a really cozy night, watching all the boats bobbing in the water and the lights shimmering across the waves. 

We woke up early Monday and after a quick trip over to Sarama, Christina and Filippo left for the shore on the water taxi and we are now headed back to Long Beach. It was a really great weekend. We’ve done so many trips to Catalina, but this one felt extra special getting to meet more families getting ready for Mexico and also having Christina visit – and the yacht club activities. And Jeff’s birthday! Such a fun time.

We have been bad bloggers.  Aw well!  We have been so busy this summer and we haven’t wanted to be on our screens all that much.  But it’s been a wonderful summer.  After I wrapped up summer school, we headed up to Canada to spend some much needed time with my family in Southern Ontario.  We had a wonderful visit with my mom and dad.  Lots of time spent hanging by the pool and eating copious amounts of Tim Hortons.  We also were so happy to be there to celebrate my dad’s birthday with a sushi dinner, complete with a singing robot.  Other highlights included seeing my cousin Lauren’s beautiful new baby, Levi (and his awesome older brother Wyatt!) and also getting to see my cousin Andrew and his fabulous café, Goldies.  Fun times golfing with my dad, Uncle Herb, and Lauren as well!  Always on the lookout for Pinkie 😉 Another highlight of the trip was spending time with my Aunt Kathryn and her sons Jason and Jeff, and Jeff’s son Hunter.  It was great sitting around the pool watching LouLou and her cousin splash around in the pool.  

During the second week, we headed up to my old friend Sarah’s cottage and had the best time chillaxing and catching up after way too long.  When we were up north we also got to see my Auntie Joyce and Ian and have a swim in their beautiful pool.  We came home and then after a day of rest headed to Canada’s Wonderland (a.k.a. Wonderful Canada) and Jeff and Josie went on three crazy roller coasters and LouLou and I loved Snoopyville.  It was a super fun day and I felt like I had run a marathon at the end of it – lol!

Soon it was time to say farewell to our family and friends in Canada – it’s always too short and it’s really hard to say goodbye. But, this trip was a bit different because instead of heading straight home to Los Angeles, we flew to Vancouver. We spent one night in this glorious city and enjoyed a morning in Stanley Park. LouLou was thrilled to see the Totem Poles and we all enjoyed the little red railroad. Then, Jeff’s sister Diana and her family met us and drove us over the border to take the ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in Washington state. Such a beautiful place and such a wonderful family. We loved just hanging out with the Pieples around the campfire, and getting the grand tour of the island with Nylah driving! And maybe the biggest highlight of the trip with our kayak trip with Satchell – what an incredible night. Thank you so much Tommy and Diana for hosting us – we love you guys so much!

Overall, it was an incredible trip and it was long overdue after three years away due to the pandemic.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful, supportive family and friends and we both felt it this trip more than ever.