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.

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!

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!

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.

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 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.

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!”