FAMILY OF THREE TAKE TO THE SEA: WHAT A RIDE! PART 1

There are many times when I thought, "I should be writing on the blog.." and didn't. So here is the summary of the last 5 months.
We came back to La Paz this year with the intention of sailing south again to the Mainland. As with most cruisers, plans are written in sand. We love La Paz, and due to the El Nino year, the Northers (Northers are strong winds that come down from the North and funnel down the Sea of Cortez bring large seas and high winds) were quite strong and weather windows were short. We also had company coming to visit us in La Paz which meant we would only be on the mainland for about 6 weeks. So we got a slip at Marina de La Paz and nested.
As a family, we decided that we don't like moving around all the time. It is tiring and we enjoy feeling connected to an area-experience the day to day life. So over the last several months we got involved in many activities. We volunteered at a shelter for battered women and children. Journey saw first hand some very trying circumstances that people live under daily. For example, the children take 2 exposed wires and put them together to turn on the light bulb next to the sink. We also volunteered for the second year in a row at an orphanage, teaching English to teens. The kids love Journey as she is very relatable to them and I enjoy it as well. We volunteered in several fundraisers to raise money for local charities that Club Cruceros www.clubcruceros.net supports. Journey revived her "Island Girl Bakery" business and sold/donated funds and we modeled in a pageant as well.
Journey has been busy with 9th grade boat/world schooling which kept us in a steady rhythm. We hung with old friends that we cruised with last year and made new friends.
We flew to Nuevo Vallarta to Paradise Village www.paradisevillage.com in January as friends from WA came to visit. It was great for Journey to see her friend, grab some pool/beach time as it was for us adults. In February, our niece, Rosie came to visit for 2 weeks as she just graduated from college. We had a blast as we went to San Ignacio www.kuyima.com with our friends on sv Savarona and sv Astrea to see the mother whales and their new borns in the lagoon. We were surrounded by these grey whales who would spy hop all around the boat to check us out. We also went for a sail to Espiratu Santos for the weekend with our friends on sv Mana Kai. We snorkeled, paddle boarded with dolphins and sea turtles, and had a humpback breach about 25 times. Truly magical.
In early March, John's friend came to visit for a week. We did a trip to Magdelena Bay to see the Grey whales ( w just couldn't get enough)and were blessed to actually touch them and played with them for an hour. Again it was a great trip and so fun showing Tom