Sorry it's been so long since our last update. We've found that our satellite connection is not nearly as reliable as we'd hoped. Plus we've been "busy". How can that be, you ask? We don't need to rush out the door at 7:30 to get through the traffic to get the kids to school and catch the 8:34 train in to the City. Prepare for the first 2 meetings of the day on the train ride in. Dive into work, come up for air during a 15 minute lunch. Dive back down and get home at 6:30 exhausted and just in time to make dinner and get the kids to bed, etc. etc. Yet somehow the time on board does go by quickly and although every day I think about what I should write on the blog, bedtime comes before we know it and another day has passed.
Over the last month we had some wonderful visits from back home. Our friends Candace and Nathan came down for 10 days with their 2 boys Noah and Ambrose, who are the same age as our kids. (They also brought along a huge duffel bag with parts and critical supplies for us, including Trader Joe's pancake mix and an anchor. Thanks guys!!)
The kids were very excited to see each other and happy to spend the time together. We spent half of their visit at a beautiful anchorage in San Juanico, North of Loreto.
We went fishing and diving and hiking every day. On the trip up there, on a completely calm day, we ran into a small pod of killer whales. They swam slowly around the boat and one even went between the hulls and turned over on her back to have a close look at us. Quite a treat!
My dad came down to Loreto for 3 days and we spent most of our time reviewing technical details on the boat in preparation for the crossing. Some of the issues were resolved, and others remain mysteries (like why the autopilot keeps throwing "rudder response error" alarms. Grrr). He also insisted that I bring him fish to eat every day, which Massimo and I managed to do.
Massimo has gotten really good at fishing with his rod and reel. Just a month ago he could barely handle the rig and now he's casting on his own. He spends hours on deck fishing for whatever will take his lure. If he doesn't catch anything in 5 or 10 minutes he gets bored. But thanks to the great congregation of puffer and box fish under the boat, he pulls something up every 2 or 3 minutes. Then one of us needs to go out with a pair of pliers to set the beastie free. The puffers seem to be particularly dense since Massimo will catch the same one 2 and 3 times over. Yesterday evening he caught a small Cabrilla (a sort of grouper). It was too small to keep, but it put up a good fight nonetheless. This morning Massimo caught a big needlefish that was almost as long as him, and during his Grandfather's visit, he caught a red snapper, which we ate. He's still getting used to the fact that we have to let most of the fish go...
Recently Massimo's been coming with me to spearfish. He rides on my back and looks down with his mask over my shoulder. He takes one breath every 30 or 40 seconds, then plunges right back in. We managed to shoot a couple of small snappers from the surface together.
The other day we had a real treat for dinner. The kids were jumping up and down and yelling in unison, Broccoli! Broccoli! Broccoli! I never thought I'd hear that.
Annabelle's obsessed with horses. This morning she kept telling me that horses eat carrots and fish. Carrots and fish. Carrots. Fish. She can't wait to get to the Marquesas because we told her she might get to ride a horse there.
My mom's been aboard for a wonderful 2 week visit and the kids are thrilled to have her. It's really hard for them to see the people they care about come and go, but that's a part of this nomadic life that they'll have to learn to live with. On the other hand they're already learning to make friends with new kids very quickly.
One of the most special parts of this trip for me so far has been watching the kids grow up minute by minute. Thinking back I can't imagine what it would be like if we had kept going the way we had been, spending an hour or two in the evening with them, and then weekends crammed with activities. Now the farthest I've been from them since we left is when Sophie takes them to the beach and I'm working on the boat. But I still watch them fly their kites through binoculars...
Maintenant en francais:
Voici notre correspondance mensuelle avec un peu de retard.... les journees en mer passent a toute vitesse et entre, la voile, la peche, la plongee, la plage, l'ecole des enfants et les multiples taches quotidiennes la vie est dure!! Just joking!
Nous avons passe le mois de mars en mer de Cortez en remontant jusqu'a San Juanico (nord de Loreto). Ce fut le mois des visites et l'equipage au complet gardera de merveilleux souvenirs de ces moments d'amitie. Nos amis Candace et Nathan sont venus nous rejoindre a Loreto pour 10 jours avec leurs deux enfants Noah et Ambrose, du meme age que Massimo et Annabelle. Les enfants etaient ravis de se retrouver et une fois la marmaille couchee, les parents appreciaient les bonnes coversations autour d'un peu de rhum et de cookies....
Nous avons aussi eu la chance de voir des orques. Une famille d'orque est venue tout pres du bateau et ce fut une rencontre inoubliable. Surtout quand le mere a commence a foncer droit sur le bateau avec ses yeux hors de l'eau pour nous voir et puis au dernier moment elle a plonge sous la coque! Je dois dire que j'ai eu un petit moment de doute...
Isabella et Ugo, les parents de Maurice, sont egalement venus nous rendre visite et c'etait vraiment sympa de les avoir a bord. Maintenant que nous nous sommes acclimates a notre nouvelle vie, pouvoir parler a des gens qui ont deja fait ce que nous faisons est vraiment sympa et enrichissant.
A la fin de chaque visite, c'est le drame pour les enfants. C'est vraiment dur pour eux de voir les amis et la famille partir mais cela fait parti du quotidien de notre nouvelle vie. D'un autre cote, ils ont appris a se faire des copins rapidement et des que nous croisons d'autres bateaux avec des enfants a bord, le "playdate" a la plage s'impose. Cela nous a egalement permis de rencontrer des gens tres sympas.
Nous sommes de retour a La Paz ou nous preparons la prochaine etape et non la moindre: la traversee du Pacifique. Nous comptons partir mi-avril. Pour moi, c'est une etape importante et je mets desormais toute l'energie possible a la preparation logistique et psychologique permettant de passer 2 a 3 semaines en mer. Rajouter a tout cela une dose de petoche et vous obtenez mon portrait actuel!!
Gros bisous a tous!
Sophie,Maurice, Massimo et Annabelle
