We are in sunny La Paz toward the southern end of the Baja Penninsula. We've had a about a month of cruising Mexico now. We left San Carlos up on the mainland Mexico coast the second week of December. Crossed over to the Baja side and swung on the hook at Punta Chivato. There is a little camp there for the local fishermen, a dirt runway for private planes, and some pretty nice vacation houses for gringos. Not much else. It's one of the best shelling beaches we've ever seen. In places the shells are so numerous you could easily fill a bucket w/o moving your feet.

From there we hopped down the coast stopping at whatever anchorage looked good for a day or two. We've had our share of northers this year. These are north winds that blow down the sea from high pressure systems up in the SW of the USA. Because there are high mountains on both sides of the Sea, and because the Sea is relatively shallow, the Northers can whip up some nasty seas. Similar to what happens in the Columbia River Gorge, except the Sea is about 150 miles wide and 600 miles long and so the fetch has a little more room to build.

Usually the northers last three days or so, and it takes another day or two for the seas to lay down. So we just find a nice protected anchorage to snuggle into to wait out the "wind events". Sometimes we dinghy ashore to explore. Sometimes we go snorkeling. Sometimes we just lay around the cockpit reading books and visiting w/ friends on other boats.

For Christmas we were in Puerto Escondido, about 15 miles south of Loreto. There is a pretty active sailing club there - The Hidden Harbor Sailing Club. They put on a traditional Christmas dinner which was attended by about a hundred cruisers. For New Years we were in the sleepy little fishing village of San Evaristo. We shared the anchorage with six other boats, but there was not much midnight celebration. Just a cheerful "Happy New Year" the next morning to the folks on the yachts, and "Feliz Ano Nuevo" to the local fishermen in their pangas. Of course school was out for the local kids, and it was fun watching them playing on the beach. There were two cowboys; one with a mule and one on a horse. They put on quite a show racing on the wet sand along the beach with much good natured whistling and carrying on from the pangeros (fishermen) cheering them on.

Tomorrow we move to the anchorage and our new Pactor Modem should arrive Monday! Not sure when we'll have an internet connection again. Possibly a long time. Until then, hope you are enjoying the new year!