Aboard Astraea

A few days after Christmas my friend Clint, from San Diego, came roadtripping down through Baja with his son and they stopped by La Paz to see us. We offered them bunk space on our boat for the night but during our wanderings downtown Clint found a hotel he had to stay at.

At the freaky funky Hotel Yeneka in La Paz

Toilet plants, like my Grandma Ness has but much wilder.

More toilet plants at the hotel

An old car with a mummified monkey

For about $35 they stayed at a very memorable hotel. Bargains are all over Mexico! Our wanderings took us down to the malecón and back to the boat.

Sully and the Old Man and the Sea statue.

Clint’s very good dog, Noe, and the Old Man and the Sea statue.

Sundowner beers Aboard Astraea. Clint’s getting his boat ready to cruise south next fall.

The beautiful sunset. This is the kind of stuff cruising memories are made of.

We were anchored outside Costa Baja where we visited with our new friends, David and Kinyon from S/V Sheldon 2. We were introduced by our friend Jill from back in San Diego since we’re all Navy Yacht Club San Diego members. It was great to hang out at the pool and help them with boat projects.

Dinghy driving in to Costa Baja

Sully playing in the pool at Costa Baja

Sully sauntering down the dock at Costa Baja

Astraea at anchor near Costa Baja

We rode the shuttle bus from Costa Baja downtown to celebrate Liam from Riki Tiki Tavi’s 10th birthday party with the twins from Yare and Rumi and Martin from Ballena.

Sully’s turn to take a swing at the piñata at Liam’s birthday party

Scrambling for candy

Rumi and Sully enjoying cake and ice cream at the birthday party

The Madero Market mural

We spent a quiet New Year’s Eve Aboard Astraea enjoying our final sunset of 2015 in the cockpit as a family.

Our last sunset of 2015 Aboard Astraea

The next day we went ashore to Tallares Navales Bercovich, the boatyard next to Costa Baja. Ashore we checked on S/V Coconutz for Eric and Jaime. Coconutz told me she was tired of being dirty and wanted to be back in the water cruising with her friends. Eric and Jaime plan to sail Coconutz up the Sea of Cortez to Puerto Peñasco in June.

Coconutz and Sully’s new favorite car

Beach treasure

Playing on the beach near Costa Baja

Sully’s pirate ship and Astraea anchored in the background

Astraea at anchor at sunset near Costa Baja

Sully riding on the bow of the dinghy

Happy New Year from the crew of Astraea!

After my mom left on December 16th, our schedule was wide open. There were some kid boats in La Paz so the first thing we did was get together for a walk on the Malécon. Sully had tons of fun playing with Jayden and Dillon from s/v Sangvind, Martin and Rumi from s/v Ballena, and Liam and Neli from s/v Riki Tiki Tavi. We’d never seen this many boat kids in La Paz!

Then it was time to get ready for Christmas! Sully only had one thing on his Christmas list – “a rescue helicopter with a hook and a door and a little boat”. If anyone asked him what he wanted for Christmas, that’s what he said. He first saw it at Walmart in Guaymas back in October, and he didn’t stop talking about it. One day he was staring off into space so I asked what he was thinking about. He replied, “Oh Mommy, I’m just thinking about a rescue helicopter with a hook and a door and a little boat. He was like the Ralphie and the BB gun from The Christmas Story! Luckily “Santa” didn’t have any trouble finding one in La Paz.

Sully wrote a letter and mailed it to Santa.

He put it in the mailbox at Club Cruceros. Someone who collected the mail was nice enough to write a note back to Sully letting him know that Santa had received his letter and that Santa knew he was on his boat in La Paz.

He put it in the mailbox at Club Cruceros. Someone who collected the mail was nice enough to write a note back to Sully as Santa letting him know that Santa had received his letter, and that Santa knew he was on his boat in La Paz.