Where feet may fail, seahorse V

Well " change of plans" we left la Paz and are anchoring off Bahai San Gabriel. Marina life has its advantages but they can be short lived. Once the laundry is done the food is stocked and the boat maintenance has been worked on, well time to go. We stayed for 9 days, needed about 3. On the anchor its quite, and family oriented. Don't get me wrong, a social network is nessary . The men need to discuss...lol...God only knows what, the stuff the women are sick of hearing, and the women need to generally vent and affirm that they are not alone in the feelings and struggles that maybe their husbands find to be futile complaints.
The anchorage reminds us that we are on the same page and we HAVE to work together if this whole experience has a chance of success.
Wow, went up to Caleta Partida, what a pleasure. A perfectly sheltered passage between 2 islands, with a beautiful bay like opening, to anchor in. Surprisingly when we jumped off our dingy to explore the white sand beach, about 2 minutes into our walk thousands of crabs began to scatter. Of course I screamed, and Billy assured me that these bubbler crabs with their one claw we not to be feared. He had just learned all about them on our planet earth movie a couple nights ago. He then proceeded with the help of grace of course, to explain to me why and how they make all these sand balls on the beach. Volcanic rock large and small can be seen around the outer edges of the beach from the extinct volcano thousands of years ago. We will stay here for a few days and try to absorb as much as we can of this paradise.
Few days on the sea of Cortez and I'm sold, sun, silence, great beaches and oh ya --fishing-- yuppie. Yesterday, 3 trigger fish, 1 barracuda ( though very small) and my favorite Sierra and yes I am responsible for 2 catches, we had a great fish dinner and a bag for the freezer.
A rediculously rough 4 hour passage up the sea to another anchorage. It was like going through the washing machine the whole trip. Tired out, but happy to not be moving, isla San Francisco, wow what a place. We hiked up to a picturesque view and later tried to fish but no success .
Left after 2 days and headed to mazatlan, 38 hours later we arrived! el cid what a treat. Again many friends and a great time. We stayed 2 days
Longer then planned and still it was hard to pull away, if we had know the weather would have been so beautiful we would have planned Christmas in mazatlan but as time was ticking along we had to move out and on.
16 hours and we reach the bird sanctuary on isla Isabella. I survived, not my favorite being surrounded by thousands of nesting frigget birds the size of taradacto dinosaurs but for the sake of my children..all three , I endured it. The weather is already getting warmer morning was dry and hot. After a few hours sleep we will leave tonight at midnight and in 16 hours we will arrive in peurto vallarta..
Instead, we left at 3 in the afternoon, reached San blast at 11 pm had a reasonable sleep and took off at 6 am for la Cruz . Night watch this time was the worst so far charts were old and less accurate and panga boats along with fishing boats meant for tons of water traffic, ended up being more than I could handle, which led to the anchoring over night.
Here at paradise village let the Christmas fun begin.

Well it's time, we have been in the marina Cortez for a little over a week and it's time to leave.
I'd like to recap a few stories before I continue on with our next step.
In sandiego we met up with other boat couples and families which we have stayed in closer contact than others. One of our favorite boat friends on Korbut rose husband wife team looked for our boat in particular to moor close to I cabo. They approached the bay sighted our boat and cranked their steering toward us, when - their steering broke. Truly, a full anchorage, they are coming in headed toward us with no steering! We had no idea till we heard panniced voices calling out STEVE. Luckily, we heard, then we heard "we have no steering", well they screamed at the right captain because steve was off our boat in the dingy and onto their boat before they had to yell again. Safely, they got settled in and anchored, I have no idea how. But I do know it could have went very bad very quick . The next day was spent repairing the steering steve and Bruce and then they were up and running . Sometimes there is just bad luck and it seemed our friends were experiencing a bit of it when at another anchorage, in the middle of the night we woke up to a very loud clanging noise that I was assuming meant we went aground . Of course with all my experience ..lol..I was almost gar entered to be overreacting and wrong. Overreacting not so much but wrong yes. Our friends in the night distrusted their anchoring and as we all learned probably not the Best time to do that, everything looks different at night. Well the lifted anchor in attempt to move, the current and wind was not in their favour and they crossed and picked up our anchor. Captain Steve once again straightened out this situation however when all is said and done that was a night no one slept.
Sure sound like my captain is a bit of a hero, but truly experience goes a long way in these situations not unlike other professions.

Well after a couple rough nights in the beautiful balladera bay we decided to pull into a marina for 1 week. We had unexpectedly windy nights in the bay and were tossed like a salad all night long for 2 nights. I'm not much fun sleep deprived, kids didn't feel a thing and slept like rocks.
Now in the marina I am also sleeping like a rock, and much more fun to be around. This week we will catch up on some maintenance laundry, filling water tanks, provisioning and battery and refrigeration work. Then off to the sea of Cortez until the cool winds chase us out. Still planning on being in peurto vallarta for Christmas but we have decided intentions are much better than plans. Cruising doesn't fit in to planning very well unless you enjoy constantly changing plans. I will post one more time hopefully before we leave la Paz until then ....the only hard part is missing everyone!

Well it's taken a while to have both time and the Internet at the same time. We left sandiego and without much wind travelled 360 no to turtle bay. Our stop there with the baha fleet of about 130 boats and a few hundred crew was fun and well needed after 3 and a half days on the ocean. Best memory was taking kids trick or treating in dingies from boat to boat in the dark.
Then off to Bahia Santa Maria 240 nm 2 days felt quick and easy with all the wind and fish we caught the favorite being dorado and then the tuna. We had only one day to enjoy this place but would have loved to stayed longer.
Last leg of the baha fleet to cabo 180nm and here we have said good- bye to many of our new friends and still hanging out with others for what we feel is a well deserved break.
Next leg tomorrow to Los frailes 45nm nice easy day then a good night sleep befor we continue on.
Looks like captain steve has bora bora on his wish list....let's wait and see!

Well the captain is safe and sound in sandiego. I've been waiting to fly and meet him for 9 days. It seemed like forever to me and the kids, until today.
On more sleep. The last sleep we will have in our beds, in our house on our street. We are excited, scared, anxious and truly blessed.
Tomorrow we leave the house we loved in,cried in,saw teenagers grow up and and leave from,we brought 2 new babies home to and suffered loss of steve's father and my mother in. Good and not so good memories shared and treasured.
Life moves on and forward, and we go together with great dreams in our hearts. Just to have this opportunity, wow, here we go.
Next check in sandiego.

2 weeks before departure