MEXICO

Our pirate captain as we left San Diego with the 2013 Baja Haha fleet!

Hard to believe that the last time I was able to post to this blog was October 27, 2013. Sheesh! What a long, hard slog it has been since then. It seems like forever ago. Another lifetime. But the good news is that the Baja Haha is finally over (officially as of two nights ago - but we won first place in our division, "Guacamole Division", smoking squads of "silly Beneteaus", as Marcus says!!) and we happily left the craziness of Cabo San Lucas behind and are now resting comfortably next to several of our new boating friends in a beautiful marina in San Jose del Cabo at the southern tip of Baja California. I hardly know where to start to explain all that has occurred since we left the USA. All I can say is that the rally was NOTHING of what I expected. For me? Almost 800 nautical miles representing days and days of noxiousness and discomfort for me, personally. I somehow thought that once we got around Point Conception, it would be smooth sailing from there on out and warm weather and sunshine and easy livin'. HA! No. We left beautiful San Diego in misty, cold bumpy seas! I was seasick almost immediately! And then was useless again for quite some time. If you are ever considering doing the Baja Haha, talk to me first. There are some things you would need to know... There were 160 plus sailboat signed up, about 120 participated, only a very small handful of kids compared to MANY in previous years (a really sad part of all this for us as we had hoped to connect with tons of cruising kids). Most people who do type of travel are retired or single or kidless or all of the above. We weren't really "like" the others and seemed always to be on the fringe of the excessive middle-aged shenanigans and partying going on. We met some really, really nice people, though. Don't get me wrong. And it was fun, too. My favorite part besides meeting other cruisers and being part of the fleet? The VHF radio! Who knew? It was like a soap opera every day for the net check ins, and listening to the chatter and the tales and the conversations. But I digress. Where should I start... Hhhmmmm. Merit Badge, perhaps. I think I earned several on this trip. First sailing race/rally, my first overnight sailing watches, keeping my cool with 7 people on  board and a broken watermaker which meant running low on water for several days... Let me go back a bit, though. For those of you who are following this blog closely, I am proud to tell you that my Wauquiez Cruising Scout Master Brian did award me the Provisioning Badge while we were out at sea but attached this commentary: "On the subject of the Merit badge... having a Minivan definitely made the task easier.  However shopping and storing food for 7 is definitely a bonus. So on balance I feel that you have earned the award." I am so PROUD!

And I have to tell you... the food part of the trip did actually work out pretty well. We got to the end of our ability to prepare full healthy meals but there was still food here and the kids did not starve. Yesterday, I put my provisioning prowess to the test and went to the "Mega" grocery store here in town to go shopping. Yes, grocery shopping... AGAIN! But as much as I hate grocery shopping and organizing meals, doing it here is a bit more challenging and exciting. For sure. My friend Shauna on Sand Dollar did a much better job at provisioning in San Diego than I did. She had fruit to spare! Gave us her last bottle of white wine for Ilse and Pete! Brought us bread... But I had 7 and one of them was Max! And a beebee... always grazing... The Mexican grocery store was HUGE. Yes, MEGA. And it was full of tourists, not many locals. I wandered the isles amazed at the products, some similar, most not. Wishing I could go shopping and home to cook with a Mexican mother and see what she would do with the meats and the vegetables I saw there. A note on our crew: Ilse and Pete flew home yesterday after two weeks with us on the boat. Max is glad to have his V-berth back! And I would be lying if I didn't say I was glad to get back to being 5 on board. Here are some photos from the Baja Haha:

Shauna and Easton of Sand Dollar

Ben's buddy Easton from Sand Dollar

Leaving San Diego

We caught a Dorado! Yum.

I will write more in the next few days with more details of our journey. Have been attempting now for three days to get this entry done and sent. I know it is missing ALOT. And I will attempt to get caught up. Homeschooling has been largely neglected the last few weeks. I am attempting to make peace with it and figure out how to move forward without going crazy. Sand Dollar kids are doing one hour of reading, one hour of writing and one hour of math. Our school takes HOURS. Calvert. I am SO TIRED of it. Trying to figure out how to carve it down to something more manageable...