Aboard Astraea

Invest in experiences

March 17, 2016
by Natalie

What are we doing?!

Back in October when we were getting ready to head back to the boat, Nate got the word that his old job (this time as a civilian) was available. With the cruising kitty running a little low, he put in his application and we assumed that our cruising adventure was soon coming to an end. The plan was to get the boat back in the water and make our way back to San Diego by the New Year. Fortunately for us, Nate was one of the qualified applicants for the job, but his old boss wanted a bigger pool of applicants to choose from. This gave us more time. More time to cruise and enjoy Mexico, and also more time to consider all of our options. Before the job was reposted, we thought of a ton of different ways we could keep cruising. Not forever – we just really wanted to finish off this season.

Our first idea had Nate going to school online. With the G.I.Bill he would get a monthly stipend for taking classes online. The plan was to head down to La Cruz and hunker down for a few months with a good internet connection so Nate could take a few online classes. But by the time we thought of this plan it was too late to start right away, and we would need the money coming in ASAP if we were going to head to La Cruz. Plus, Nate didn’t want to take online classes. He got his first degree online, and it wasn’t fun. He’d rather use the G.I.Bill to do something he’s really interested in and attend classes at a brick and mortar college.

In January, Nate started doing some boat work for our friends David and Kinyon. He was good at it and he enjoyed it, so we thought about sailing down to La Cruz to start a boat work business with our friend Nate. But that required a long term commitment, and we didn’t want to live on a boat in Mexico forever. Our options were limited, and in the middle of January, we still had no idea what we were doing or where we were going, so we just kept hanging out and having fun in La Paz.

It was nice staying in La Paz. We had a great network of cruising friends there and many had kids!

Sully and Rumi hanging out with the Golden Pirate

Sully and Rumi hanging out with the Golden Pirate

Sully and Rumi on the playhouse

Sully and Rumi on the playhouse at Club Cruceros

In the house

We said goodbye to our friends Megan and Jonah from s/v Orion. We spent a lot of time with these guys in the fall and for holidays, so we were very sad to see them leave.

Laser dance party

Laser dance party send off!

Megan and Jonah cruising up to Astraea

Megan and Jonah cruising up to Astraea

They took us wake boarding on Christmas

They took us wake boarding on Christmas

Megan getting up on the board

Megan getting up on the board

Headed back to the boat at anchor after a day spent in town

Headed back to the boat at anchor after a day spent in town

At the end of January, our plan was to bash back to San Diego. We pulled into a marina for a few days to seal the toe-rail, and Sully and Nate fixed the leaks in Sully’s hatch.

Painting his hatch with water

Sully had fun helping Nate “varnish” his hatch with a cup of water

Daddy boat projects

We'll miss the sunsets

We’ll miss the sunsets

February 1, 2016
by Nate

Trip to La Ventana

We’d been hanging out with David and Kinyon from S/V Sheldon 2 since they arrived in La Paz. They really liked the area, so they decided to have a home base ashore in La Ventana and invited us out to check it out for the day.

We loaded up in their car and drove about an hour from La Paz farther down the Baja coast.

The long, straight road to La Ventana

The long, straight road to La Ventana

La Ventana is a popular spot for kite surfing and windsurfing. The consistent north winds that blow from November to April make it a perfect spot for windsports. People come from all over the world to race along the water and fly through the air.

Watching the kites fly

Watching the kites fly

We pulled in to the downtown kite surfing community center. There’s a bar and restaurant that serves great pizza and margaritas so we stayed for a few and watched the kite surfers zoom along the surface of the sea. More adventurous kite surfers were riding boards with hydrofoils that rose above the water’s surface. We saw some kite surfers fly 10-20 feet through the air (some performing spins and tricks) and land back on the water’s surface.

Inside the cool restaurant/bar/hangout at La Ventana

Inside the cool restaurant/bar/community center at La Ventana

Margaritas with a beautiful view

Margaritas with a beautiful view

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Hanging out on the upper deck waiting for some pizza

Hanging out on the upper deck waiting for some pizza

Sully and Kinyon hanging out watching the kite surfing

Sully and Kinyon watching the kite surfing

After our pizza break we had to stop and wait for some unique traffic to cross the road.

Hey buddy, on your way to the OXXO grab some steak

Hey buddy, on your way to the OXXO grab some steak…

and bring it back please. You know I like it fresh.

…you know I like it fresh.

It was an awesome day trip away from the boat and gave us another look at rural Mexico outside the normal cruising destinations. They didn’t have keys to their new house yet, but what we saw of the outside looked pretty cool and we’re excited to get the grand tour soon!