After leaving the craziness that was Cabo, we took an easy 6 hour motor-sail to Los Frailes, just around the tip of the Baja Peninsula. It was so wonderful to arrive in such a calm, peaceful and beautiful anchorage. (The water was so clear you could see your anchor in 20 feet of water!) There were about 10 other boats when we got there, so not exactly deserted, but included in those boats were our friends from Tin Soldier and Jean and Stuart from Duetto . We settled in for the evening relishing the beauty and quiet of the scene (well as quiet as it gets with two little girls on board!) and made plans for a beach bonfire/marshmallow roast for the following evening.

The next day we were able to do school- finally! During the Ha Ha the boat motion was usually too rolly to do schoolwork, and when we got to shore we felt we owed it to the girls to get them off the boat and on the beach as quickly as possible. So now that we're back on our own schedule we are looking to get back on track with the girls' education. (Not that they were complaining, of course.)

After school we loaded up our snorkel gear and took the dinghy about a mile around the point of Los Frailes to Arrecife de Pulmo, a National Marine Park that is known to have great diving. At first the girls weren't too keen on the idea- after all, why dinghy for a long stretch when the very water under our boat looks so inviting? However when we got to the reef and they got their masks on they were thrilled to be there. They saw loads of colorful fish and even a sea turtle! Maddie was so excited she kept squealing underwater every time she saw something new. I kept turning to look at her, thinking she was in distress but she was just having a good time.

That evening we enjoyed a bonfire on the beach. The girls made s'mores and learned how to build fires (!) with Hunter from Pangea while we caught up with our friends. When it was time to leave it was a bit dark and we had to launch our dinghy into rather mild (certainly by Bahia Santa Maria standards!) surf. We loaded the girls in first and then with assistance from Glen and Don from Tin Soldier guided the dinghy out. I was sitting on the edge of the dinghy toward the back just as a wave pushed our bow up and a violently washed me off the dinghy. One second I was sitting high and dry and the next I was underwater! And the next second after that I was back in the dinghy. Glen and Stuart told me later that they couldn't believe how quickly I flew out of the water. As for me I was just trying not to miss my ride. The important thing of course is that the girls were never in any real danger... and enjoyed every minute of it.