We didn’t write last year because we were in route to La Paz, Mexico on Spirit, our 42’ sailboat. Well, we’re back in La Paz again, in time to enjoy the holiday season. Many of you may have followed our progress on the web page listed above. The last update got us to August, when we left Spirit in Puerto Escondito and drove back to San Francisco, CA in “Harvey”, the 23’ RV we purchased. It just got too darn hot down here this summer. El Nino made it worse than normal.

We spent last winter living in Marina Palmira in La Paz. We bought two used bicycles to enable us to ride to town, 2-1/2 miles away, for provisions. After three trips out to the island anchorages nearby, we finally checked out of La Paz and sailed north in mid-May. After an entire month of hanging out in some of the best cruising anchorages in the world, we checked in with the Loreto Port Captain. Read that as a month without spending money, except for the lobsters we bought from Manuel and the goat dinner at the restaurant in Aqua Verde. After a couple of weeks hanging out in Puerto Escondito and reprovisioning in Loreto, we spent another month hanging out in more great anchorages from Danzante to San Juanico Cove. Read hanging out as fishing, swimming, snorkeling and diving, exploring, reading, and testing new recipes for dinner.

Well, it finally got too hot to be very comfortable so we bought a used RV and drove north to visit some of our land based friends in California, where the weather was much more agreeable. I say some because we didn’t give ourselves enough time to see everyone we would have liked to. We thought we had enough time, but then getting things fixed on Harvey took much more time, money, and energy than we had planned. We got Harvey fixed up to be safe for the drive back down the Baja Peninsula. We arrived back in Loreto on Oct. 6, the day after the summer heat subsided. After a couple of weeks getting Spirit ready to sail again, we spent two more weeks backtracking our way to La Paz. The weather here in October and November is terrific. We found clams in Everisto, then caught a 30 pound dorado on the way to Caleta Partida. That was our biggest catch of the season.

So here we are, back in Marina Palmira, but now we have wheels. We’re starting to explore more of the restaurants in town. We’re getting a kick out of being able to pull up to a roadside taco stand with our dining room table. We’ve spent the last month contemplating our options for the future and are currently thinking we will have Spirit hauled out of the water and stored in the boat yard next door, then take Harvey to the mainland by ferry. We’ll spend the winter touring the Mexican Riviera and inland cities, then come back to La Paz to have Spirit’s bottom painted and put back in the water. Yes, all good things must come to an end, summer will find us heading back to the other reality we left behind, the W word.

Marsha, Cindy, and Steve are all happy, healthy, and a little older and having a great time. We think of you, and wish you all of the best for the holidays and next year. Feliz Navidad!