Thanksgiving Feast

Here in La Paz they have a Turkey Day potluck for all the people who don't want to cook a big dinner for Thanksgiving.  The deal is the chosen marina to host this dinner supplies the turkeys and the mashed potatoes. It is up to all the guests to bring whatever they think a Thanksgiving Day Meal is supposed to have. We chose to bring caramelized onions and black olives. The turnout at the dinner was relatively large. I believe about 200 people came to the dinner. The dinner was hosted by Marina Palmera. The marina has a huge boardwalk so thats where they set everything up. A few of my friends attended the dinner and we all took over one of the tables. All the kinds under 16 were the first to get served so we got the first pick in everything. I was amazed by how many people brought stuffing. There were probably about a dozen bowls for different stuffings. I served my food and went to go sit down and eat when I saw the dessert table. I think in the end I would have been better off if I hadn't seen the dessert table. But, I did. So, of course, I went over and loaded up a second styrofoam plate full of sugar. After the dinner my friends and I tried to play tag but its really hard to do that on a full belly. We ended up just sitting around a playing black jack. 

After the potluck was over we all migrated to Marina De La Paz for a classical Guitar concert. They were really good. It inspired me to practice more. I hope I'll someday be that good. 

I have persuaded my dad to leave La Paz on the 5th. I hope that we will get in to Mazatlan on the 8th. 

All is well on Don Quixote.

Los Frailes

We have been in Los Frailes since the 10th. We pulled in at about 4:30 in the afternoon and then went to bed early. We had a long day. On the 11th, tuesday, we went on a little trip on shore. The plan was to take a two mile hike to a beach that had really amazing snorkeling then a two mile hike back. What really happened wasn't at all like that.

We land on the beach after rowing in and grabbed ll our stuff we would need on the walk/swim/dive. We walked on the beach after some re-con to find the road that was going to take us to the beach. We started the walk along a very dry dusty trail. We walked about a mile before someone pulled over and offered us a ride. My mom and dad did the silent telepathic communication thing that I don't get and told us to climb on. We drove along the road for awhile before dad said I guess we are going past the beach. In fact we were heading for the town there. It took us about 15 minutes to reach the town. The ride in the back of the pick-up truck was really bumpy due to the fact that it was and unpaved, rocky, bumpy road. Once we reached the town though the roads got smoother. They were still dirt roads but they were less bumpy. 

We were driving through the small town when dad said "you girls got all your stuff? He's going to pull over soon." He didn't pull over though he just kept on driving. Right through the town. About a minute later he stopped really fast and turned around. My Mom said "You didn't forget us did you?". Started smiling. He said "Actually I did. I was kind of caught up in the music." It was all cool though because he drove us back to another beach right in the town. It was actually kind of a better reef because it had all the gear we would need for swimming at a good price.

We went snorkeling on the smaller part of the reef. There are two parts the shallow part of the reef that is closest to shore. Then there s a breakwater before you get to the big part of the reef. Thats where all the divers go. We bobbed around the reef looking at the fish and coral for awhile before we all headed inshore for awhile. We knew that we were going to get lunch in town so we scouted out the place with the best menu. And the cheapest menu. We settled for a small restaurant that had lots of beer. That mostly why my parents wanted to go there. We got a few plates of delicious burritos and nachos.

Jaime Conger

Swimming a Reef

Another boat in the Ha-ha has been here before so knows all the cool, cheap, things to do. So they got on the VHF and called all the Ha-ha kids and invited them to so snorkeling. My family said yes, as did four other boats.  Everyone started arriving at our boat at about 2:30 for some swimming on our mini island. One everyone was there we left for the reef. We were heading for a big rock called Seal Rock. Its not really a reef but it has amazing stuff growing on it and tons of wildlife. 

Once we got to the rock we had to anchor our dinghies. The surf was to big on the beach to pull up all our boats so we just dropped a couple dinghy anchors and rafted together. Then we jumped in and went swimming. At first we swam around the shore. The fish and coral was very impressive. Then we swam over to Seal Rock. It was incredible. There was a huge variety of fish and coral. The coral was the coolest. I spent half an hour diving down on the coral, then swimming up for air the going back down again. I love doing that. We are going to try to go back over today and check it out again. It really was a cool experience.

Jaime Conger

Bahia Santa Maria

Bahia Santa Maria was great! It was beautiful and sunny. The wind was at about 5 knots so the sun didn't get a chance to make us sweat. We pulled in the harbor at about 3:00 in the morning. We anchored temporarily near the entrance so that we didn't have to wind through the fleet. That morning we all slept in 'till about 10:00, and then moved the boat next to the "main" boat, Profligate.

After we finally woke up we had a big breakfast and went for a swim. Awhile back we bought one of those inflatable floaty island things from Costco. We decided to get that out and dad put up a homemade waterslide. We did all of this mostly for preparation of a water/kid party we were throwing that afternoon. It turned out to be a blast.  All the kids came from various boats in the fleet and we played games and dunked people in the water and splashed for 3 hours. Then we all sat down to watch a movie. The movie was probably really good, I didn't get a really good chance to watch it since the kid behind me kept dropping food on my head. After he ran out of peanuts he resorted to making farting sounds. Very comforting.

The kids all left with their parents who stayed for my parents' talk/adult party. A few girls spent the night and we spent the morning swimming on the float. That day was the Santa Maria party at the beach. I wasn't at the party much. My friend and I went to catch the really good waves with our boogie boards.  I flipped a couple times and once rode the wave backwards. The waves were pretty substantial. The biggest one was probably 5 feet tall. We decided not to ride this one. After awhile the sun went down and the water temperature dropped the party was over. 

We started for Cabo San Lucas in the morning. The race started at 7:00 on the 5th and quite a few boats stayed behind. We are about 50 miles away now and hope to pull in at 9 on the 6th. Wish us luck! 

Sailing with the Baja Ha-Ha

We are on the second leg of three in the Ha-ha. The first leg was
San Diego to Turtle Bay. This portion was about three days and nights
long. The second leg is from Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria. This
is the portion we are currently on. Its about 6:30 and we are on our
second night. We are hoping to pull into the bay at about 2am
tonight. I am really excited about this stop. Turtle Bay was fun,
but I didn't know any kids yet. Here in Bahia Mera, Aeron and I plan
to meet up with all the kids we met at the beach party in Turtle Bay.
It is going to be really fun. Bahia is supposed to have really good
surfing waves. My friend on s/v Calou has a couple boogie boards we
can ride on. My mom is going to throw us a party tomorrow for all the
kids. They will all come to our boat and the adults will all go to
another boat. We are going to swim around the boat and play a number
of games. I'm not really sure what else we are going to do but we'll
figure something out. It's going to be a pot-lucky kind of deal.
There is also going to be a beach party in Bahia Santa Maria. We
are going to bring dessert. Alot of people are going to bring fish.
We have been listening to the VHF, and about half the fleet have
called in with fish that they have caught. We are included. We caught
a 25 pound Yellow Fin Tuna and before that we caught a bonito. He put
up a fight! We just finished the bonito and are tackling the yellow-
fin. Mom wants to grill it, I want to fry it, and Dad wants to eat it
raw. Mera and Aeron say that they could do without the fish at all.
Just shows how salty the aren't.
Sailing with all these boats around us is definitely a new
experience. I'm not used to sharing the ocean with all other people.
On the way down Vancouver we didn't see many other boats. Now you
can't turn 360 without seeing another boat. It does have its
advantages though. With all the boats spread out and heading in the
same direction, we can get weather reports from up to 80 miles away.
You can just get on the VHF and call the fleet and you come back with
answers. The VHF also has a very entertaining chat room for kids if
I'm ever bored. That doesn't happen much, my parents keep me busy.
I'm the one who has to go out and trim the sails, raise the chute and
scrub the decks.
We are keeping busy and having fun on the Baja Haha!