Christmas in Philos, La Cruz

Foreground is Bernard and Becky of Worth Waiting 4,  he could be Santa, but he is in the background giving out gifts to all the children of the city.  This was after dinner with turkey and potluck sides provided by cruisers.  The children put on a great play of the Christmas Story before Santa arrived.

December 26

Anchorage at La Cruz where we stayed 3 nights before going to the marina.  This was one of two anchorages we stayed in, the other was Pt Mita.  They are quite comfortable, if a bit rocky at night.  We have seen two friends in the marina, Worth Waiting 4, and Elegant Sea.  Haven't seen Chip and Debbie since they left on the Baja Ha Ha.

December 19

Surprise! we are on our way to Puerto Vallarta!  We decided on Tuesday that given the assured weather window now vs waiting until next week for an unknown regarding weather that we would leave the next day (yesterday) when friends Brian and Jan on SparrowsPoint were leaving.  Jan and I did a quick trip for a few groceries, and stopped at a very nice pottery store, a family business.

Trip to Muertos Bay was wonderful, little wind and calm seas. A really beautiful day.  We decided to head on down to Los Frailes so as to reduce the next leg of the trip from 39 hrs to 31.  Arrived Frailes around 5:30 so had just enough light to find a spot and set the anchor.  After dinner We enjoyed the full moon and lots of stars.  Hope tonight will be as clear and bright as last night, makes the overnight crossing more enjoyable.

John and I just completed a process of coordinating way points for this passage, a bit of a challenge as we have so many electronic navigation devices.  Next we will need to decide how to do our Watch schedule.  I imagine we will stick with 3 hrs as we've done in the past.

Maiden voyage in the kayak

December 3-4. Isla Partida

Quick trip for an overnight to Ensenada Cardonal on Partida with friends, Helene and Norm.  Beautiful bay and very calm seas for the day.  John and Norm got the kayak down, so it was in the water for the first time.  

We had a first, a nearby sailboat (see her below) had "cat overboard drills" during the afternoon.  They have 4 cats on board, two lines hanging down in to the water for the cats.  You can probably imagine the complaining by the cats, one in particular.  Quite the screeching!

After the very calm day, the winds came up around 10 pm, just in time for bed.  Anchor held, but we had a loud night with slapping water against the side of the boat.  I think Context is a bit noisier than Carefree was.  I slept on the couch for a little more quiet.

Costa Baja Golf Club

The following pictures are from the Golf Club at Costa Baja Resort, La Paz Mexico.  Had breakfast with friends, Norm and Helene Cavior on Sunday 12/1.   As you can see, there's a wonderful panoramic view of La Paz Bay.

This is what we called a stealth boat  at the fuel dock as we left Costa Baja Marina

This is the view from back of our boat in our slip in Palmira Marina..  Pretty nice!

LaPaz and end of FUBAR

FUBAR ended with a lovely dinner at Costa Baja Resort Wednesday, Nov 20.  They provided a wonderful dinner of fish, steak, tasty salads and a beautiful setting.  We moved the boat to Marina Palmira the next day and are enjoying being a bit closer to town.  It is, however, a good walk or  one can take the shuttle to get to town.  Attached is a picture from Costa Baja Resort showing the hotel.