Homeward Bound Again

Ben left us a few days ago, and we got to serious business getting our boat ready to leave for a few weeks while we head home! Our luck continues to be phenomenal. We knew our Mexican visas were running out by the end of June, but we had been told in Mazatlan by immigration personnel that it would not be hard for us to ask for an extension. When we spoke with the immigration officials here, it WAS a big deal. And since it is their country, we are not going to ask for favors.

Also we heard from several long time cruisers who have waited out the hurricane season up north in Bahia Los Angeles that you really want to be 70 miles north of Santa Rosalia by August 1st for safety. So then we were scrambling, trying to figure out how to get all of us home cheaply (including Rudy.) And that is when, by chance, our good friend Gary in Mulege happened to mention that he had a car in Mexico that he wanted North (it was too nice for the roads). And there you are. Just like clockwork, it couldn't have gone better if we had planned it.

So we are headed home. These last few days, Jack has been off for hours playing with the cruiser kids who are also in Santa Rosalia (there have been six to eight over the last few days.) Like a cloud of locusts they have overtaken our marina and he has spent hours off the boat having a great time. Right now is movie night for 5 of them up in the air conditioned cruiser's room, with popcorn. Jack is having the time of his life. He comes home to sleep, but other than that, we see him in the morning until his home schooling is done (about 10 or 11) and then we only see him for about another hour the rest of the day, combined. He has so much more freedom here in this setting than we were ever able to provide him in our old neighborhood. He takes the dinghy alone across the harbor to pick up his friends and bring them back to our marina (we have a pool!) In our old neighborhood, we couldn't safely let him go three blocks from our house due to a high traffic area, and there was never enough room for him to be completely out of sight for hours at a time, in the company of several other really nice children, all around his age. It is magic to finally be able to experience this.

I am picking this blog up a few days later. Our preparations for leaving the boat were exhausting. Preparing for probable storms (and a very unlikely hurricane) is hard work. Plus the marina is home to several osprey and many pelicans and cormorants that love to land on top of masts and sit and poop. One large bird already broke our anemometer (wind measuring instrument) in the first week we berthed at Santa Rosalia. Everything had to be gone over and prepared to sit unattended for several weeks - toilets,, through hulls, refrigerator, water maker, even the top of the mast. It took us hours of work over many days. It was a joy to finally be done and go sit in an air-conditioned car with nothing to do. We are now just north of Los Angeles and will be home by the end of the weekend.

Laura

Ben's Visit

We have been out of contact for the last few weeks mostly due to my clumsiness and plain bad luck. We left America with two computers, both laptops from Dell. In one week I managed to spill apple juice on one, and push the other off a bed causing it's screen to crack when it landed. Ouch! Major setback. The computer anointed with apple juice occasionally agrees to turn on and work, so we haphazardly have internet access. Since it decided to turn on today, I'll post a quick update so you know we are still having fun.

Our good friend Ben came down to visit us Tuesday the ninth. We back tracked south so we could pick him up in Bahia Concepcion. He flew into Loreto and took a bus that dropped him off at one of the beaches in Conception Bay. We picked him up and have been having fun ever since. We spent days touring our favorite places in Conception Bay, and then have been working north. He's been to Chivato, the Arches on Isla Santo Marcos and now Santa Rosalia. On Sunday Ben leaves and we will be sad to see him go.

So fear not, we are all great and having fun (except our computers.)
Laura

Tour of our home

I erased these pictures about a week after writing this posting, but then heard from many people that they did not get to see them in time. So here is a quick recap. From top to bottom in order are: the master stateroom; the kitchen; outdoor cockpit with table; one of the two engine compartments found at the back of each pontoon, shown with Patrick working in it like he often does; the "office area" but who needs one if you have quit your job and are touring around in a boat?; Rudy and Jack's bedroom; the main bathroom with walk-in shower; the spare bedroom which we call the garage; a view from the cockpit into the main salon with Jack seen at the dinette; a view across the cockpit looking at Patrick at the helm. It was hard to take the pictures, since the boat really is small compared to a house, but it has every thing we need. If I had to guess, we are living in about 400-500 square feet. It is actually very spacious for just the three of us. The living quarters of our boat have not been modified much since the day it came out of the factory in France in 2001. A mirror was added in the master bedroom and we removed the doors from the kitchen cupboard.
Cheers,
Laura