I've heard other cruisers characterize cruising as all about the people you meet. I feel the same.

Cruising down the west coast and in the Sea of Cortez I met so many different people who I enjoyed. The collage above shows some of the friends I met, but I could not post here a collage photo that would show them all. It would be too big. I made so many friends, and met so many people I liked.

Friends I met cruising include lots of people cruising like me, mainly from the U.S. and Canada. You already have a connection because you are doing the same thing, and have gone through similar experiences. You meet new friends at an anchorage or in port, and then you will likely see them again, perhaps somewhere far away. Some you will keep in contact with via email. Some, like my friend Laurin, might even visit you at home in the summer.

I also really enjoyed making friends with local people, especially in the Sea of Cortez. My Spanish language facility is still rudimentary, but that did not stop me from making friends. I found it easy to connect and to joke with the Mexican people. My jokes in Spanish were stupid (¿Cuántas esposas tiene, señor?), but they almost always got a laugh. In some of my prior blog posts I tried to convey the positive experiences I had getting to know, and making friends, with some of the Mexican people.

So thank you my new friends - my friends who are fellow cruisers, and my friends from Mexico - for adding so much to my cruise to Mexico.