I have been desperate to document the last week in the Sea of Cortez before we came home...already the memory of it is starting to fade and somehow it is only when I actually write it down that the experience seems to cement itself in my mind...

We left La Paz with a fully functioning transmission and thankfully we ended the trip with the same fully functioning transmission. We started our grand finale by spending an afternoon at our favorite spot, Balandra Bay. It is one of the most beautiful bays just outside of La Paz. It is very shallow so you can practically walk across the entire bay, but the beauty of course is in the colour of the water...a shade of blue/green that seems surreal. The bay is surrounded by the whitest sand and the kids love to hike and jump on the sand dunes. Paddling the kayaks around felt so decadent!! After a wonderful day at Balandra, we decided to sail overnight to our next destination heading north.

We moved on to a place called Aqua Verde and spent about three days enjoying the company of another boating family, Stepping Stone. We had a great time hiking to a cave with ancient hand prints, exploring to find some natural hot springs, spotting a whale shark (right in the bay with us!) and slowly chasing schools of graceful and curious rays in the dinghy.

On the way back, we stopped at Bahia Los Gatos and had a last hurrah with our friends from Meschach. The boys got to have another play and the adults got to share another meal together...Then it was off to Isla San Jose and Isla San Francisco. It was action packed as we explored abandoned salt flats, toured a vast mangrove area and hunted for crystals.

Once in La Paz, we worked like mad to clean and pack up the boat to have her hauled out until she's ready to be shipped back to the PNW. It all went smoothly and Craig will head back in Sept or Dec to make sure all is taken care of to get her back safely.

The 4-5 days in San Diego was great. We spent it with Brad on Tenacious Grace and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him over that time. We felt close to him within hours of arriving. Brad's a great cook and a better storyteller, so our meals were long and fun (burp!). Jordan was thrilled to get to spend his Birthday at Legoland and his main birthday wish was to go to Borders to get some new books!!!

That takes us to the present....we are settled and unpacked in our house, Craig has already had his first deposition for work, I go back to work tomorrow, and the kids will start summer school and daycamp next week...I'm striving to keep the lessons I learned while on this trip:
1. Live in the moment and be thankful for every day
2. Life happens in the mundane (the adventures are fantastic, but relationships get built in the day to day)
3. Expect to need people and expect to be needed by others