After spending a few weeks in the Bay Area with my family, I have finally returned to La Paz, Mexico, and joined up with Cisnecito. I arrived today at 3 p.m. anxious to get situated aboard. Cisnecito looked fabulous as I pulled up to the gorgeous marina in the gold, 1991 Nissan Sentra taxi. The Bay Area experienced horrendous weather the last 24 hours, but Mother Nature threw me a bone and cleared the skies first thing this morning for takeoff. I hugged my mom and took a few deep breaths as I walked into the cold, Oakland airport terminal. For whatever reason, I had a bit of a lump in my throat as I meandered through the crowds and worked my way to the gate. Deep breaths. Relax. Since when did I become such a softy??!! "Geeeeeez, Andrew. You need to pull it together dude", I said to myself as I walked towards security. I enjoyed being with my family so much over the holidays and loved telling stories about where we went, how we got there, and best of all, how the toilets work. My parents, sister, and brother-in-law were so supportive and excited about what I was doing, that it re-energized me for this final push. It feels really great to know that I have people at home thinking about me.

I have no idea what our exact schedule is, but it looks like the weather is pretty nice on the outside of the Baja at the present moment. We have some last minute boat projects, provisioning (grocery shopping...probably my job), and things to take of care in the next few days. Otherwise, it looks like we'll head out of La Paz, turn south, whip around the southern tip of Baja, and begin beating our way up the coast to Newport. We have roughly 1000 miles to go, many of which will be tough going, but I am definitely ready for the challenge. While in Bay Area I ran into some friends and followers of my blog, and had great responses, so I am going to attempt (key word "attempt") to update my blog every day, starting today, until we tie the boat up in Newport, Ca. This could take anywhere from 14 to 30 days, depending on weather etc. I can't promise romantic stories of spearing lobster, or swimming with whales, but I will give my readers a short glimpse in the day to day life aboard Cisnecito.

This picture attached above is of my mom. She really is great, and actually very much like me. Yesterday our power went in Moraga so our driveway water pumps didn't work, which was a slight problem. Sally, being the vicious warrior she is (yeah right), navigated her way through treacherous, flood-driven driveway to get the mail. She did so in my Dad's size 13 rubber boots too. Strong work Mom, you'd make a great sailor.