Well,
We've been having fun! The past weeks/months have vanished in a sunny memory. We have taken every opportunity to make for the Islands north of La Paz, Espirit Esanto, Partita and Isla San Fransisco. We have made wonderful friends here both on other boats and on land. So many exciting things have happened around us, it's hard to put it all into a short few words. Our friends on Imani, Mark and Dourine and their son Tristan set sail recently to return to California. We will miss them. They and Bill and Miriam on Moon Hunter have adopted us as family while sailing here in the Sea. Both Moon Hunter and Imani have performed extensive cruises through the Pacific and have been cruising for years. I have to give them thanks for showing us so many little tricks to cruise.
Here in LaPaz He have seen both tragedy and rebirth. Brian owner of Shelly B. a Pearson Triton watched as his boat burn to the water on night about March 20th. With in 24 hours the community of sailors pulled together and raised enough money to purchase another Pearson Triton, which happened to be, anchored not that far away from the Shelley. Ryan along with many others put in long hours getting Brian's new boat into shape and in the water. We helped raise additional funds to help replace all Brian's lost items. I am happy to report that Brian has been able to sail Phoenix, his new boat as far and Isla San Francisco with us, Moon Hunter and Imani. The whole story of Brian's boat is an amazing story of the resourcefulness and fortitude of sailors and the human spirit, whit our deep desire to be free.
In the mean while Mandy, Ryan and I have been hanging out at Cassa Buena and Crossroads, and English speaking church here in LaPaz. We've met so many wonderful people here and made such good friends. I see why LaPaz is one of those places that people get sucked into and never leave. While here we have made good friends with Milton and Susu, owners of Cassa Buena and also fellow cruisers. They sailed to LaPaz via boat years ago and returned to settle down after extended cruising through Mexico and the Caribbean, and discovering Cassa Buena, a beautiful bed and breakfast here in La Paz.
We have been enjoying our time here in La Paz, But we can feel the weather getting warmer. The big question is, what's next? As for now, we don't really know. For the immediate future we are planning on hauling our Boreas and getting the bottom done. I'm finally going to fix the rudder slop, which hasn't proven to be much of a problem, fortunately. However, we have no idea where we will be heading next, be it into the Sea, back to the States or ????????
The fortunate thing is that Mandy and I will be house sitting for a couple weeks in May and we figure that will be the perfect opportunity to haul the boat. This way we don't have to try and live on board with a baby and try to paint the bottom, along with other various projects...
Ryan will probably head north, eventually... to return to work, while Mandy and I are investigating several opportunities. Our Mexican Visas will expire in another month and a bit. I can't believe it's been almost six months!
Vianne has had her first birthday. She is growing so fast! She has started getting her molar teeth. Almost a full set. She is standing more and more on her own, and always a smile. Mandy and I are trying to introduce here more and more to salt water. However, sometime it's ok, other time she's not very excited by it. She gets around the boat well though. Everything is her size, and she is getting fast at climbing over everything. I'm glad we got the netting up when we did! Unfortunately she has learned a couple tricks that are not good. I.E. checking if things float! She seems to think it's exciting to through her diapers and cloths over the side of the boat. Ryan found one of her little skirts under the boat while at anchor about a week ago.
In other news we have been able to start washing Vianne's diapers in salt water and let them air dry with out fresh water rinsing. So far she has not developed any reaction. This is great news, in that we are no longer limited in range by our diapers! This adds to the question as to where are we going to head to next?
We'll just have to see.