When you can feel the wave under a catamaran, you know the surf is going to be good. 7.30 this morning, it was true and the dedicated soul were out in force. While Benjamin regaled us with scramble egg and bacon part of his food 10, some head turned on the line when they smell the goodness, yes we were that close. The second photo is to illustrate the spot where we normally land the dinghy. If you have never been here, the rocks are easily 3-5 meters out of the water normally and usually you can see the anchored panga.
The last three photos of the series were taken at the point, the lighting made it magic and now you know why the chart-plotter says danger. For Daybreak Ocean this is why Punta has a reputation of surfing sorry it was not to be during the winter months.
The rest of the day was uneventful, not that we complain. The current drove us north at 2 knots the wind added 1 to 1.5 and we arrived in Chacala just on time to connect with the ladies on Skype. So what is happening in Victoria? We heard that you saw some people who have a great responsibility in our new life.
Indeed! We were extremely fortunate to have had the visit of Jp and Liane who drove for 3 hours to come visit us, and there were no appartment visit since it was Sunday and Victoria day week-end. The city is simply gorgeous in full bloom, lively with music etc… It was such an honor to see them and catch up, we spent the whole day chatting, and drove around to see more places for Emma.
And were treated for a wonderful brunch at “Re-bar”, couldn’t resist an eggbenedict with tomatillo salsa. Once more I am reminded of how lucky we are to have good friends around.
Emma do you recognize the fifth guy from the left?
Yes it him….
We escaped the “grip” of la Cruz de Huanacaxtle this morning early discreetly, after one last Ice cream at our favorite parlor last night (Across the plaza from the marina, up three stairs). Thank you for everything friends of La Cruz, you will be part of some great souvenirs. Still we have to move to get out of reach of those summer storms and by insurance requirement, we need to be over the 23rd parallel before June 1st.
For the “admiral”, we have to report that two loads of washing were done while on route. The water tanks are full, floors and the bottom of Letitgo are clean. We deserve those tacos tonight, and a wink for you Emma: You know Benjamin really took over your room décor and all, plus today, I knew that title was going to get you. Punta Mita is pumping, the waves are 3-4 meters and the surfers are going crazy. Not the usual tranquilo playa, we have witnessed in the last three months. We can hear both of you going from here: “wow, dinghy landing in those conditions are going to be fun…”
We survived our outing, even if the waves were going over the left breakwater, when you get in. Had to go back on our way out, or we would have not made it with the 2HP, experience is everything when a massive roller comes toward you. Also happy to report that the Tacos stand, was open and delicious even tried the tripa (tripe) and enjoyed it. Aqua de Piña to match plain delicious, the owners of the tienda ask if we live here. It’s time to move we have been assimilated….
Now give us some news from Victoria as you haven’t sent any today, ( which is a Laurent’ s exageration…) remember who you left behind?
Well, just reading about the waves give me goosebumps!!!
On our end it has been fairly uneventful, the weather is holding up and the sun is peeking through the clouds… Not bad is it? There was a couple of places the girls visited, and the afternoon was relaxed… One place caught their attention and they are keeping it in the back of their mind. So more to come I guess? I make sure they always have nice food to come home to.
After that, they offered me to come to Emma’s favourite coffee shop and enjoyed a nice Latte with a croissant. It was good time coupled with quality!
 
Benjamin is relieved, he is done for this year on the provincial tests! And it is not as easy as it looks, but after 2 days of stress, intense concentration and sweating! He declared in his usual style that we know so well “Yes I did good, now let’s forget about them!”, well Dear Benjamin, the results should be in shortly let’s stay tuned….
On the boating side, we are always pleased to bring you up-to-date with the latest trend in the world of cruising. Live from Marina La Cruz, ladies and Gentleman the latest addition to the fleet, and no need to wait for weather, you are ahead of it. Let us explain: your crew of 6 will be happy to assist, because getting the lines on the front cleat require you to crawl on the rather narrow hull. If you need to maneuver in tight quarter, you will need a dinghy with large fenders to assist. And lastly, for the people who used to tell us that with a beam that size our catamaran will never find a berth, check that one out baby! You can proclaim you saw it first, it is just plain amazing.
Closer to reality, is the beauty of rising early to go to school. You witness beauty in its simple expression, fishing for bait. And in Vancouver do you have sun?
In Vancouver not too much sun yet, everything is in full bloom though and looks amazing. Arriving by ferry I was once more taken aback by the beauty of all the islands.
The girls have already started the house hunt, and have been doing very well. More news to come on that front later of course.
It is cold compared to our usual in 30s degrees, but it is beautiful, green and lush.
Today was a day of settling in smoothly, and catching up on news, visiting the city!
Tomorrow we are expecting a visit from really good friends who are driving for a few hours for us, Jp and Liane. Emma and I are extremely excited to see them again.
But first, here is our little nest while the girls are house hunting.
  
Mornings are not our favourite!
For the next few weeks, the two contributors to this blog will be separated by a few thousand kilometers. We will try to keep you abreast of the action on both fronts. The program is as follow, Benjamin has to take his provincial test in the next few days, and then our task is to bring the boat up to La Paz in one piece with both of us on-board. On the ladies side, Emma has to find a place to live, move her belongings and enjoy life assisted by Valerie. A few purchases need to be collected and hopefully “Mummy” will be willing to take the plane back to Mexico. Let’s see how the plan unfolds.
This is our first half day alone, meaning with no supervision of a responsible adult over the boys, and on our front it was uneventful except for the fire in the galley. Benjamin took the online pre-exam with great success and prepared the bag for tomorrow’s marathon session. The sunset was present, with dramatic effect, our first tropical storm is developing to the south of us Alvin, albeit there is no risk from where we are. Tonight, we cooked a pot roast with root vegetable for dinner, following the British Columbia food curriculum. They have no idea how hot it is down here, and to have the oven going on for 3 hours, can be quite challenging! But the result was a great success, comfort food to reminding us of the lady who left us irresponsibly behind… We even flambé the sauce with tequila and captured it on film, check it out Valerie. Yes! we even cleaned behind us, your kitchen is still spotless.
Today in La Cruz, was a big day, Benjamin had two big exams. To top it all, not his favorite subjects math and science, we made our way to the local school and planted ourselves in the cafeteria. Here from 10am to 5 pm, non-stop with noise all around, a distraction that he doesn’t need! Though he was able to perform the magic of getting it down on time. The software kept having a script malfunctioning, making him having to close it every 3 minutes. The internet crashed once, the computer froze twice, let’s just say it was not an easy process for anybody. But the first hurdle is over and tomorrow English, which will be a lot easier for him (if you ever read his blog you know what we are talking about?)
And in Vancouver?
It is the first time for the last 7 months that we are all separated, needless to say it was very strange… But in Vancouver it has been a mad race! Fortunately we have the warm welcome of Julie’s parents who are making us feel very comfortable.
For the girls it was time to reacquaint with their city, do a little shopping and visit a few friends. On the other hand for me, I had time to squeeze some visits with friends while getting my Nexus, charging it and setting it all up for the trip to Victoria, picking up our mail from Jim who so generously keeps it all organized. Meanwhile, Emma and Julie have kindly inherited from Pete and Karene of a beautiful set of tables, desks and toaster oven. Thank You again Pete and Karene, and we hope we will see you soon!
Not much time to breathe, but I feel grateful to re-visit Vancouver and to be able to see it in full bloom. As always Vancouver shines!
The day has come to say goodbye to our Daughter, she is leaving our nest. In a way we made it a little easier for her, when we sold everything and moved away ourselves, it is just as we used to say! The saying went like this : “If you don’t move out for university, we will…” Well, a promise is a promise!
It took a mere two days of packing and resulted in 100 kilos of luggage in 10 bags! Emma had really created a little nest onboard Letitgo… And, as we made our way out of the dock, the girls broke down and called for a cab in the heat of the afternoon for the trip to the airport. Hugs were shared, few last minutes and judicious recommendations from Benjamin were given “Don’t get pregnant, don’t do meth, or don’t get fat”. On our side, our work is done, Emma is officially in charge of her destiny and legal problems, hopefully a few of the seeds we planted will stay for a while and flourish.
To you Dearest Emma, or dare we say “Mimi jolie”
We want to wish you the very best, we are so so proud of you, you have grown up to be a beautiful, intelligent, street smart, with a sense of leadership rarely seen. (If only you could tame that temper you inherited from your Daddy!). We know deep in our hearts that you are going to be fine, but just in case the customer service “apres vente” is opened from 10-11 and 3-4 Monday to Friday depending on internet connection of course… You know how this goes now, right? We will do our best to answer questions under 48 hours during business day. And evidently you can always upgrade the Platinum level for just a small fee!
With all our Love to you, Enjoy this new adventure
Mum and Dad
You better be good with your father, listen to him
You make sure you tether yourselves, wear life jackets, and your Father is not allowed on the sugar scoops if there is a fish on his hook without his tether!!!!….
Finally a single child, Benjamin’s dream becomes reality. The attention will now be all on him, maybe that’s why Emma is smirking… Talking of being the star, Benjamin got an early birthday present due to the absence of his mother on the official day. Sorry Benjamin, you didn’t get a puppy again, instead your first electric razor!! Needless to add he was thrilled… Not.
What do you do on the last day of our daughter on-board? Teach her how to buy white powder by the gram of course!! What on earth are you talking about??? To sum it up it is actually illegal in the rest of North America. Fortunately we didn’t have to go far, just a ten minute bus ride and the supplier was ready at the ferreteria. The exchange was quick and the quality excellent, we were smiling on our way back. Now we will be able to get those bad thoughts out of our head quickly. What on earth are you talking about? This doesn’t seem very politically correct, does it?
See, we were not joking, but it maybe not be the kind you were imagining.
This is Boric Acid,
Unfortunately in Chacala one grass hopper and a flying cucaracha (cockroach) landed on the boat… We got the first one out of the way but the second one escaped, only to be found yesterday in the bathroom over Valerie’s head screaming! Needless to say, it didn’t live very long after that. So now you can imagine the restless night, filled with horror movie scenario of bugs crawling all over. We got the soft approach bottle and the more radical one the Acid; let’s hope it was only one trouble maker.
The second task was to teach Emma how to sew, either that or Valerie waited until the last moment to repair the head of the main sail which chafed! This one required an enormous amount of force to pierce through the heavy cloth and a piece of leather.
And finally, it would have been unimaginable and truly out of question to not have one last meal at our favourite Tacos stand! What a coincidence Emma exclaimed!! For my last night they even had fish done Baja style, my favourite!.. Sure Emma, the owner also knew it was our last day, amazing!!!
We love the bus system so much in Banderas Bay that we had to go one more time to Puerto Vallarta, and show Julie the sight. Also, to keep the tradition alive, a little adjustment for Valerie on her new set of teeth. Emma did pack her bag yesterday, trying to fit as much as possible. No Emma you will have to buy a new mattress, those are staying on Letitgo. She must have learnt frugality from somebody around here. Now let see how many layers, she will be wearing to board that plane! A wet suit looks awkward, but again who are we to judge? Just kidding.
We drag our three charming youngsters up the hill into the old part of the city. The flat boardwalk and tourist shops are not the only part of town kids! We needed to work out that ice cream cone, and let’s say that Julie and Emma were not the queen of physical education in high school.
Nothing screams beauty like a sunset in the bus after a Wal-Mart run! One thing you can’t see from the picture is all the 16bags at our feet… We all decided that it would be a good idea to stop at our favourite tacos stand and enjoy some tacos and quesadillas, before getting back in the dinghy!
Birria tacos, and aqua fresca.
It is undeniable that today’s generation of cruisers is quite spoiled! And indeed a true luxury to be able to Skype and share special moments with your family whilst sailing in the middle of the bay; yesterday on our way to La Cruz we did a video chat with the entire family. Being able to connect with France is quite magic, unfortunately for the 72′s birthday of the patriarch event we were not invited and with 5 desserts served we are entitled to think; it’s a conspiracy…
On letitgo, we started this special day and celebrated in style. In fact it was refuelling and sorting out our fuel reserve day, since we’ve never showed you how we do it here is the best illustration, for that we give credit to Leu Cat and his idea on the tubing. Aaah the smell of diesel in the morning, there is nothing quite like it, it screams happy mother’s day doesn’t it? Actually, the surprise was when Valerie and I went to the fuel dock for our 100 liter needs instead of our usual walk to the Pemex station. What can I say she was ecstatic and so happy to not have to do that walk, the best present ever… Even if she didn’t say it out loud, I could hear and feel the fulfilment of motherhood.
After such an epic morning event, it was hard to top it up. No worries, we had an idea, during the warm hours of the afternoon we took refuge at YA-YA’s the local cruiser hangout with good internet access. Benjamin worked on uploading 16 recipes and us on planning and organizing the last purchases needed for Valerie’s upcoming Vancouver trip. Two aqua frescas later, we were back in the street and felt the warm wind hit our face. One of our local contact informed us that a show was happening on the square tonight to celebrate all the Mothers, so we had to joined the fun. The social services of Nayarit had organized a clown show with imbeded messages about anti bulling, fathers coming home drunk are not cool and mothers are the pillar of the family. Valerie’s favourite: “Respectar la Mama!”
We made our way back to Banderas Bay, with the wind in close haul the entire day, no winning on this part of our trip. For the non-sailors this means motoring or sail pinching the wind all day. The decision was made to stop overnight at the big island part of the Tres Marietas group. The kids loved it and Valerie was not well when we last came so it was a perfect destination. We found white sandy beach and crystal clear water with a great visibility. We won’t show pictures of this paradise since you have already seen them in our previous post.
But we will share a rather strange creature we encounter…
A camel head?
The young adults wanted crepes for lunch, no problem we will teach you how. Denise and Bill you now know who to ask, when the next crepes craving comes to light.
Yes, we still find them spectacular every late afternoon.
School and attracting the boys was on the program today. Benjamin has officially started a new course for his curriculum in foods 10, and we are all enjoying the treats. So far we were treated with coconut curry pork on a bed of vegetable risotto dressed with a lavender and cucumber yogurt sauce without lifting a little finger. Well… almost, we still supervise Benjamin’s level of motivation for schooling; two days ago we organized the course together making sense of the different web-pages needed. On this one parents “homeschooling’ their kids, can read between the lines, we had to ensure a sense of urgency, as we are now in May and in a month we are leaving for the Sea of Cortez with less internet connection… Truly, with this new course, we have been rewarded by a flurry of wonderful dishes. Well done Benjamin!
To be fair on Benjamin though, it is not easy to keep your focus at 15.95 year old, when the water you live so close to is crystal clear and hovering at 30degrees. On the hand, the girlies have enjoyed the special attention they were getting from a nearby power boat. Indeed it was filled to the brim with young Mexican gentlemen in their 20s playing with toys and surfboards all day long… Now some of you may say, why mentioning their nationality! Why would you single out the Latin blooded gentry? You see the filtering process of politically correct hasn’t made its way in the macho culture yet. And the boys were literally circling on their dinghy really close while whistling when the girls were showering. The hollering was present late at night and swimming right to the boat just to admire the opposite sex in bikini screaming “I love Canada”! Unfortunately for both parties, apparently the parents put a break to the full enjoyment of the intercultural learning process. Why are we around?
No they are not drowning him, they are having a group hug, and laughing so hard they can hardly keep afloat…
How to draw attention, 101: Jump and scream in your bikini at the bow of Letitgo.
Most ladies still swim with their T-shirt on around here.
Chacala Playa and more sunset photos.
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