I must admit I have no idea where I left off last time, so I’m starting blindly (no internet, but if I don’t write now I’ll forget everything!)…
Our cruise from Ballandra to La Paz was short and sweet. We had one run in with some shallow water due to our inability to stay between the green and red, but corrected before anything to eventful happened. Pulling into Marina Palmira, we were greeted by our friends on Di’s Dream, as well as some other familiar Haha faces. La Paz is a gorgeous little city. The malecon (promenade) runs the length of the bay, and the sculptures that decorate it are absolutely beautiful. When I hunt down the pics I’ll post some, but again, you’ll have to forgive my forgetfulness when it comes to bringing my camera with me anywhere. We had a lovely dinner with Roger and Di the first night, where we were all serenaded by the local talent. Kat cried… of course. I think the guy was shocked that he could be so moving. The next morning I ran down the malecon to Marina de La Paz, where we went to breakfast and met up with the other cruisers. While Kat and Jay went to the hospital to x-ray Kat’s hand, I sat under a Palapa and welcomed Triumph in. Jamie, Gary and I went inland a bit to grocery shop and explore La Paz. When I finally got back to the Kat Den Rie, I was pleasantly surprised with the news that Kats hand is fine (they had a wonderful hospital experience), and that our friends on Beyond had come into Palmira. We met up with Triumph, Beyond, and Cameron from MorningCalm for dinner, all venturing inland for some authentic Mexican food. Gary and I had another run in with birds… I caught one with my bare hands (Toby was more worried about me getting some weird Mexican bird disease than impressed with my skills). After dinner we all walked down to see the rest of the sculptures and get some Fuentes for Jamie and me (its ice cream).
I jumped ship the next day, Conner and I both hopped on Triumph for our sail to Isla Espiritu, an island off of La Paz. It was really fun, we even had a little dip in the middle of the ocean on the way. Our first stop was Caleta Partida, where at low tide you can walk between the two islands, and can kayak between them at high tide, which is exactly what we did. Us kids had our kayaking adventure, then Gary and I hiked up to caves while Kat, Jay, Di, and Roger befriended the local fisherman. They traded a hat, two cokes, and a beer for about 5 pounds of fresh calamari, and with another similar trade gained a huge quantity of Dorado. They also discovered a great snorkel/fishing spot a couple coves up that they decided to share with us kids the next day. We had a fantastic hike up an old ravine and did some free diving, again, pics to come (my marine biologist is also the photographer so we’ll have to wait to get them from him in cali). We moved up the island that afternoon to Ensenada Grande, another perfect anchorage. Triumph had us all for dinner and Kat and Conner “jammed” on their guitars for entertainment. From Grande we took all took Triumph up to Los Islotes for the day to snorkel with the sea lions. I’m not going to lie, I was terrified, and even though no one else admits it but Jamie, I think everyone was a little scared. But they sea lions turned out to be pretty mellow, and spent the day playing around us and putting on a show. One little guy entertained us by playing around with a feather, and included Gary in his game. Jamie and I each had a scary moment, but Jay takes the cake. We heard him scream like a little girl and look around to see if we had heard him. When he realized we were all staring at him, he claimed that a little sea lion had bit him on the butt… I’m not convinced, there were no marks. In his defense, Kat did have to convince him to stay in the water, so maybe there is some truth in his tale. Di had a little bit of an incident, not sea lion related, getting back onto Triumph. All of a sudden, the dinghy wasn’t under her, wet hands were slippery, and long story short, she has quite the shiner. But being the good sport she is, she laughed it off. When we got back to the boats, the kids came over for some ceviche and beer, then we headed for Di’s Dream for rum cake and, of course, rum. The original plan was to exchange pictures on our last night together, but Jamie had us with her night dive suggestion. Hey, we had just overcome snorkeling with sea lions, why not jump in the ocean in the dark? (I had preciously claimed you couldn’t pay me to do that, I guess I was wrong). So Toby, Jamie, Conner, Gary, and I got all fitted up in wetsuits, and took the plunge. It was the most amazing thing. I cannot do the bioluminescence (spelling?) justice with any description, but it felt like we were swimming through stars that light up at the slightest movement. We all happily played around in them, then headed to the caves to check out the night crawlers. It wasn’t at all scary, it was just breathtakingly beautiful. A perfect way to spend the last night with Triumph. I hated to say goodbye, especially to my marine biologist Gary and Conner who are both headed home. But luckily I’ll see Toby and Jamie on the mainland in a couple weeks.
The next morning Kat Den Rie headed back to Los Meurtos with Di’s Dream. We had a lovely dinner at the restaurant and started our crossing of the Sea of Cortez this morning at 5 am. This is, hopefully, our last overnight for a long long time…
More when we get to Mazatlan!
Our cruise from Ballandra to La Paz was short and sweet. We had one run in with some shallow water due to our inability to stay between the green and red, but corrected before anything to eventful happened. Pulling into Marina Palmira, we were greeted by our friends on Di’s Dream, as well as some other familiar Haha faces. La Paz is a gorgeous little city. The malecon (promenade) runs the length of the bay, and the sculptures that decorate it are absolutely beautiful. When I hunt down the pics I’ll post some, but again, you’ll have to forgive my forgetfulness when it comes to bringing my camera with me anywhere. We had a lovely dinner with Roger and Di the first night, where we were all serenaded by the local talent. Kat cried… of course. I think the guy was shocked that he could be so moving. The next morning I ran down the malecon to Marina de La Paz, where we went to breakfast and met up with the other cruisers. While Kat and Jay went to the hospital to x-ray Kat’s hand, I sat under a Palapa and welcomed Triumph in. Jamie, Gary and I went inland a bit to grocery shop and explore La Paz. When I finally got back to the Kat Den Rie, I was pleasantly surprised with the news that Kats hand is fine (they had a wonderful hospital experience), and that our friends on Beyond had come into Palmira. We met up with Triumph, Beyond, and Cameron from MorningCalm for dinner, all venturing inland for some authentic Mexican food. Gary and I had another run in with birds… I caught one with my bare hands (Toby was more worried about me getting some weird Mexican bird disease than impressed with my skills). After dinner we all walked down to see the rest of the sculptures and get some Fuentes for Jamie and me (its ice cream).
I jumped ship the next day, Conner and I both hopped on Triumph for our sail to Isla Espiritu, an island off of La Paz. It was really fun, we even had a little dip in the middle of the ocean on the way. Our first stop was Caleta Partida, where at low tide you can walk between the two islands, and can kayak between them at high tide, which is exactly what we did. Us kids had our kayaking adventure, then Gary and I hiked up to caves while Kat, Jay, Di, and Roger befriended the local fisherman. They traded a hat, two cokes, and a beer for about 5 pounds of fresh calamari, and with another similar trade gained a huge quantity of Dorado. They also discovered a great snorkel/fishing spot a couple coves up that they decided to share with us kids the next day. We had a fantastic hike up an old ravine and did some free diving, again, pics to come (my marine biologist is also the photographer so we’ll have to wait to get them from him in cali). We moved up the island that afternoon to Ensenada Grande, another perfect anchorage. Triumph had us all for dinner and Kat and Conner “jammed” on their guitars for entertainment. From Grande we took all took Triumph up to Los Islotes for the day to snorkel with the sea lions. I’m not going to lie, I was terrified, and even though no one else admits it but Jamie, I think everyone was a little scared. But they sea lions turned out to be pretty mellow, and spent the day playing around us and putting on a show. One little guy entertained us by playing around with a feather, and included Gary in his game. Jamie and I each had a scary moment, but Jay takes the cake. We heard him scream like a little girl and look around to see if we had heard him. When he realized we were all staring at him, he claimed that a little sea lion had bit him on the butt… I’m not convinced, there were no marks. In his defense, Kat did have to convince him to stay in the water, so maybe there is some truth in his tale. Di had a little bit of an incident, not sea lion related, getting back onto Triumph. All of a sudden, the dinghy wasn’t under her, wet hands were slippery, and long story short, she has quite the shiner. But being the good sport she is, she laughed it off. When we got back to the boats, the kids came over for some ceviche and beer, then we headed for Di’s Dream for rum cake and, of course, rum. The original plan was to exchange pictures on our last night together, but Jamie had us with her night dive suggestion. Hey, we had just overcome snorkeling with sea lions, why not jump in the ocean in the dark? (I had preciously claimed you couldn’t pay me to do that, I guess I was wrong). So Toby, Jamie, Conner, Gary, and I got all fitted up in wetsuits, and took the plunge. It was the most amazing thing. I cannot do the bioluminescence (spelling?) justice with any description, but it felt like we were swimming through stars that light up at the slightest movement. We all happily played around in them, then headed to the caves to check out the night crawlers. It wasn’t at all scary, it was just breathtakingly beautiful. A perfect way to spend the last night with Triumph. I hated to say goodbye, especially to my marine biologist Gary and Conner who are both headed home. But luckily I’ll see Toby and Jamie on the mainland in a couple weeks.
The next morning Kat Den Rie headed back to Los Meurtos with Di’s Dream. We had a lovely dinner at the restaurant and started our crossing of the Sea of Cortez this morning at 5 am. This is, hopefully, our last overnight for a long long time…
More when we get to Mazatlan!
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