It's Party Time

 This time of year, the little English group is swelling with visitors, and the group has a get together complete with a talent show and karaoke. Troy & Cheresa host the gathering at their place, and it is always a fun event!  The food is always excellent, and the talents among these friends always amazes us.  We have been asked to play a song, so we choose Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues. Mark and Kenny will appropriately play Tequila on guitar and trumpet.  Lots of singing and a young brother plays the ukulele while his sister sings. Then comes the dancing!  This group loves to dance! Since we were more participants than spectators at times I don't have many pictures, but it was a great event and so glad we could be a part of it!  Here area  few photos.  Most of the talent was taken as videos and I can't post them here, but it was such a nice evening!

Ron & Yvonne BLUE BAYOU

Mark & Kenny TEQUILA

Kenny & Pam DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART

Bruce Serrano playing Ukulele RIPTIDE

The Little Engine That Could

 Everyone who lives here seems to be pretty good at "horse trading."  Mark has also been a participant in this.  Our little boat did great, but the motor was loud and the kind he wanted isn't readily available here.  But Craigslist is universal, and he located a motor with an inflatable boat for sale in Mulege.  The man was kind enough to drive it to La Paz for him, and he was able to sell our other boat to a brother here.  So old boat out, new boat in.  Both are old actually, haha.  Having lived through many new adventures with Mark, I decided he could try the maiden voyage with someone else.  He took Kenny, a brother with much sailing experience along for the first launch.  Our old boat had something called Baja beach wheels, which allow you to launch the boat into the water and remove the wheels once you are floating. Super easy, no trailer required, minimal effort.  Mark decided to add some to the new boat, but he was a few calculations off. Once they launched it, the pressure of the boat made it impossible to get the wheels off.  Mark spent an hour in water up to his neck trying in vain to get them to release.  While Mark and Kenny enjoyed the day, they were not able to go very fast because of the pesky wheels.  As soon as they got it off the water, the wheels practically fell off!

Launch # 2 was this week, and with just a regular trailer launch and no beach wheels. We spent the morning in gorgeous calm water and the new and improved boat and motor were a wonderful upgrade. So quiet, and so smooth. We tried fishing, but no success.  We are lousy at fishing anyway, so we were not disappointed in the least. We saw seals and turtles and that was good enough for us.  We decide to head for home when I said, "Why don't we just troll on the way back.  We know we won't catch anything, but just in case something crazy happens...." And it did.  No not a fish.  I cast my line into the motor. We killed the engine right away, but now had to row to shore to get the tangled line out. Mark got at least 1/2 mile of an upper body workout before we got to the beach. By now we have an audience of spectators, including one very kind man who held the boat steady while Mark swam in water up to his neck again to get the line out. Once freed, we put the rods away and headed for home once more. Smooth sailing!  When we get to where we launched, it is now a super low tide.  It was a shallow launching spot anyway, but now it is much too shallow to get the trailer in a good position.  I spend about 90 minutes holding the boat out in waist deep water while Mark tries to get the trailer close enough to try the winch.  The rope on the winch snapped twice as we attempted to get the boat on the trailer.  The 3 guys next to us are also struggling with their boat.  We loan them a tow rope and after they finally get their boat off the water, they come to help us.  The boat is now high in the front and low in the back, so it is taking on water with every wave, adding to the weight of the boat. We finally get it loaded on the trailer but it is still too high in the front to settle on the trailer as it should. We also have a long extension on the trailer tongue that will not retract, so we have extra length trying to pull it home.  Once we get off the loading area and out toward the road, Mark pulls over to see what he can possibly do get this thing home (a very short distance, but still going to be a job). A man in a backhoe pulls up behind us and asks if we need help.  He is able to pick up the boat and reposition it on the trailer, and soon we are on our way home.  Whew!  It was not the day we had anticipated, but we are still intact and no real harm done.  We did get some expert launching advice from some very experienced boaters as we were leaving the beach, so will definitely implement their suggestions.  And more than likely not attempt this again in such a low tide. But we saw some beautiful things, including a humpback cow and calf just offshore while we were trying to get the boat loaded. There are No Bad Days here.  Just some "not aways the greatest" moments, haha.

2 real seats and a steering wheel!  Whoohoo!

The water sparkled like diamonds

We may not have seen many fish, but we saw jellyfish.  Does that count?

And a Magnificent Frigatebird

Even this girl thought we were a little crazy when we pulled over to see what we could do.

Lee and Val

 It was 20 years in the making, but we finally got my brother and his wife to Baja!  Those extra white Alaskans were in serious need of some Vitamin D, so we did our best to give them a little "exposure." A great way to start 2024.

Without any further ado, here is their visit!

1st stop: Tropic of Cancer.  You are HERE

Breakfast on the beach

Being all touristy

Even the sunrise was spectacular!

Fun Fact

Showing off my wild side, haha

So nice to meet up with Dennis and Dallas too

Showing them around the local spots.  Basically it means we just ate a lot!

Gotta try the 2 for 1 hot dogs at El Panzon!

Giant moon rise

Lunch at Bayview

A great "fireside chat"

While we didn't get a group shot at the Hall with them here, we did get some nice pictures just outside the Hall after the meeting.

The Three Amigos (AKA Sparky and the Gingham Boys)

We had some wind, clouds and even a lightning show while they were here.  But finally a good day for the beach.  We took them to one of our favorites, and they had a little fun in the kayak.

A gorgeous day at Playa La Gaviota 

Before they went back, we wanted to show them a little of the Pacific side.  It's only a couple hours to cross the peninsula, so we took a couple days to show them Todos Santos.  We rented a little house at Pescadero, and watched whales from the roof.  

Sunrise looks a little different from the West.  But the whales didn't seem to mind!

Or this little hummer.

Even Jack got his own patch of pretend grass.

Cerritos at sunset

A few more shots before they go.

Todos Santos is quite artsy

Finishing off our stay with good friends Brett and Keri Berry 

And finally, a brief shot of Cabo.  Lunch at Costco with one of the best views of Land's End
(pardon the power lines)

And just like that, they were on their way home.  Even though it might have taken 20 years to get them here, we are certain it won't be another 20 years before they come back.  Thanks for a great visit Lee & Val!