Aloha and Hola,
No, this is not a photo of Mexico and we haven't sailed to the South Pacific. Many of you will recognize this photo from the "Place of Refuge," or Puuhonua o Honaunau National Park in Hawaii, on the Big Island. I just returned from a trip there with my sister Barbara and her husband Dave. More about that later. Otherwise, we have just been living life, day by day, continuing to meet a great community here in La Paz, both the locals and other cruisers, working on our Spanish, and lately getting the boat ready to go back across the Sea to Mazatlán. We have been in La Paz for 6 months, and overall it has been a good place to be, apart from the heat this summer, and of course, the hurricane. But other than that! We spent a great Thanksgiving day with 18-20 gringos from England, Australia, and locals from La Paz celebrating with a traditional Thanksgiving menu. It was soooo good. No one was not allowed to bring anything with salsa or chilies, or any other Mexican dish! What a break for us! Many thanks to Juli Goff for hosting the celebration at her home and Spanish escuela.

Our plans are to go over to the mainland, stay in Mazatlán for about a week or so, then down to Banderas Bay and Puerto Vallarta, with likely stops at Isla Isabel and Chacala on the way. Isla Isabel is an island approximately 18 miles off the mainland and is known as the "Galapagos of Mexico." They have a ton of birds there, nesting, free from predators, so they are not afraid of people. Birds include the Blue-Footed and Brown Boobies and huge friggin' Frigates, as well as other white-tailed tropic birds, and iguanas. More importantly to us is the excellent snorkeling and diving that the island affords us. We are hoping to go with some friends that have been before as the anchoring can be a little tricky. Chacala, the other stop is supposed to be your regular ol' dreamy anchorage, with clear blue water and white sand beaches.

My other sister Linda, and her husband Steve are meeting us in Puerto Vallarta (PV) and La Cruz, where we will be anchoring, a few days after Christmas and following their visit we have other friends visiting from San Francisco. We plan to do some day sailing while they are all there, possibly taking them to a couple of anchorages away from the tourist areas. We then plan to head further south than we did last year. Due to my mother's death, and some commitments to meet others in PV, we never got further than Banderas Bay. This year we want to make it to Tenacatita and Barra de Navidad. We will let you know if we make it! Then we will head back up to the Sea of Cortez for the spring.

The reason I went to Hawaii is that we are looking at buying a place in which to spend the summers, out of the coastal Mexico heat. The plan is to find a place that we can share, with Barbara and Dave enjoying it during the winter months, away from the cold of New Mexico, and for us to have the summer months there. Alas, prices are ridiculously high in Hawaii, and I'm not sure if it will work out. We are also open to finding a place in the mountains of Mexico for our summer months, but we would have to do that on our own. Trying to stay open to some other possibilities as well. We'll see what comes our way, meanwhile we plan to enjoy the winter and spring here again, exploring this country that we have come to greatly appreciate.