Monday, March 24, 2008

Baby Boobies: picture

Here's a mama or poppa. They both take care of the
kids, with the twins. Note the lovely blue feet.

Baby Boobies

Isla Isabella is a nesting site for Blue footed Boobies and Frigate birds. We decided to paddle surf boards to shore. We thought it would be simpler than unloading the dinghy off the front of Nomad. We were wrong. However, we paddled in to a tiny beach directly in the middle of a standing room only section of the island where nests of boobies were every 3 or 5 feet. All the fledglings were in various stages of being cute and white and fluffy. More in another blog.

Long Awaited photos




Brian´s only surf related experience in weeks was a day in La Paz Bay when the tide was going out and the wind was howling in the opposite direction..Very Gorge-like conditions. Known surf spots Pt. Mita and Puerto Escondido are getting closer and closer, however!

After leaving La Paz, we visited two islands separated from each other by a sand bar and anchored near the separation. Here´s a view of Nomad from above, from the hike we took.

Friday, March 21, 2008

update

I received this email from Megan on 3/19/08.

Hi people, we have left La Paz and are approximately
300 miles south east of where we were 54 hours ago.
We are anchored off of Isla Isabella which is about 85
miles south of Mazatlan. On our way down I saw a
whale leaping out of the water about 100 feet from me
and then a small whale lept and then lept a second
time. Never gets old. Then, I'm very excited, I saw
4 sea turtles in about a period of an hour. This has
been one of my goals and I didn't even recognize the
first two as turtles; I thought they were manta rays
resting at the surface. We would have put a ton of
pictures on the blog in La Paz but our computer was
"being repaired" and so for a while we had no
computer, then when we did it didn't work properly,
then we took it back and after that all of our
pictures were wiped clean in order to make the
computer work properly. I cried, I cursed. Then, two
days later, I decided to check out our back up hard
drive Dulac had given us. Miraculously, almost all of
the pictures were on that! I don't even remember doing
this. So, pictures are coming soon. We are getting
close to some surf spots and so Brian has been
researching good anchorages near good surf spots and
eagerly listening to the weather. Que te vaya bien!Megan

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

La Paz, Mexico

Hi Friends.
We have been anchored in La Paz, Mexico for exactly
one week. There is a huge contingent of americans and
canadians living on boats here, as well as many
tourists. In certain restaurants and parts of town
English is heard much more frequently than Spanish.
Fortunately, we have found the heart of town where
street vendors sell carne asada tacos for 50 cents and
tamales for a dollar...and the mexican hot
chocolate!!! Also, Brian has been able to find things
at hardware stores that we need. So, we´ve been doing
an enjoyable balance of chores and exploring and
socializing with other cruisers.

The marina where we tie up our dinghy every day is run
by an American woman who has started a wonderful
program for kids in a low income part of town. We
gave away 2 big bags of toys and kids clothes for her
to distribute. Their website is www.lapazninos.org.

The tidal flow in this area is extreme, sometimes it
feels like a large river where the wind blows us one
way while the tide pushes the other. This set up a
perfect Gorge-style windsurfing situation for Brian
two days ago in wind up to 30 knots. He was a happy
camper since there is no surf inside of this big bay
and he´s been craving some exercise.

I continue to enjoy my More with Less cookbook and
made hamburger buns for our barbecue with Mike,
Alyssa, and Skip last night.

Our next stops will be to snorkel at the Isla Espiritu
Santu and then across the Sea of Cortez to the
Mazatlan area. Please let us know when you want to
visit!
Megan