It's hard to believe we have been living in Mexico for nine months. Gypsy, floating peacefully in her Puerto Los Cabos marina slip, has provided us with a safe space to ride out these stormy times. Although this pandemic lingers on and is even on an upswing, life has continued. The almost deserted streets of La Playita have come alive with visitors. Fishing season started up just as I left for California at the end of September. Tourist fishing boats, super yachts and sailboats have filled in the empty marina slips and glide in and out of the harbor daily. The days of having this place to ourselves are over but we are happy that the local businesses are seeing more faces than just ours. Like most places in the world right now, business is not like it used to be but some is better than none. Yes, there are many stores and restaurants that have closed completely but not all. Plenty have survived, at least here in our vicinity. Unfortunately, as I was informed by my hairdresser this week, Guadalajara on the mainland has shut down almost completely including grocery stores. I asked how people get food and he said take-out. It will be a long winter for many.

Our departure preparations are coming along. We got the sails back on Gypsy as soon as I got back. We cleared out our rented studio and rearranged boat spaces to find places for all that we stored there. Over the months Bob has been keeping up with boat maintenance and while I was away he did the dirty work like replacing the head pipes and removing a pufferfish that got caught in the air conditioning intake valve. We got Gypsy back out on the open water to make sure everything still operates correctly. A few adjustments like tightening a new engine belt had to be made but nothing major. We will go back out this week for another test run.

At the end of the month we plan to sail to La Paz which is up in the Sea of Cortez. We will anchor along the way at least one night but hopefully two or three. As always the exact plan will be weather dependent. This time of year the Northerlies start to kick up in the Sea. They are winds that blow down into the Sea from high pressure systems in the States. They say they can get pretty strong as the winter progresses and can occur every two to three days.

We don't know how long we will stay in the Sea of Cortez. La Paz is on the south end of the Sea. Ideally we would love to go up to the north end but the best time of year to do that, from what I understand, is in the Spring. We will have to decide whether to stay in La Paz for the winter, and deal with these Northerlies, or head over to the mainland where the temperatures, air and water, will be warmer and the winds less fierce.

November is birthday month for both Bob and me. Bob's birthday was right after I got back from Monterey and we had a lot going on. We did take time to celebrate at one of our favorite farm-to-table restaurants, Tamarindo. I believe Mexican restaurants do outdoor patio seating better than anywhere I have ever been and this one is the best. The view overlooks the organic farm below where banana, mango and guava trees flourish as do the vegetable and flower beds. Staff occasionally can be seen down in the beds harvesting a few last minute crops before the evening crowd settles in. (We're early eaters so we often see the last minute set up stuff happening). Bob splurged on fresh local lobster and I had my favorite shrimp tacos in the unusual fresh jicama taco shells.

For my birthday I got in a full day of fun. We started with a walk at the local estuary and beach ready for action with our cameras. We weren't disappointed as the variety of birds we saw was delightful. All our favorites were there - herons, egrets, osprey, plovers, and killdeer - but on top of that there were birds new to me such as the ibis, soras and gallinule. Insects, butterflies, flowers and lizards also helped to keep our cameras shuddering. My favorites for the day were the black-necked stilts with their distinctive pink legs. If I did just that on my birthday I would have been content but I also managed to fit in a spin on the kayak, a swim in the lovely warm water, a couple of tasty fresh fish meals and a beautiful sunset. A great start to my new year!

Be sure to check out the Gallery for our latest photo collection of creatures big and small that have crossed our paths. Bob got a new 100mm macro lens so be prepared to see the insects up really close!

As we move on from this harbor I will keep you up to date on our whereabouts with our Garmin tracker. If technology doesn't fail me, it will show our current location on this blog's homepage map. We hope you all have a lovely and tasty Thanksgiving. We may not be able to have large family gatherings this year but the future will bring better days with it. For now, love the ones you are able to share it with. Be well!