back to home page

January 2005

photos at bottom of page (text that refers to a photo is followed by O)   

January 1 brought the kids back to the boat!  We crawled out of bed after a late night on the town and made it to the airport after a quick finish up of some projects in the kids room.  As soon as we got back we took the kids and Hopper to the beach and then back to the boat to unpack all of the wonderful presents from the family.  Wow did we luck out!  The table was piled high with all of the gifts O.  It was truly amazing.  The kids got to play with their friends on the other kid boats as Mike and Nancy found places to stow all of the new items.  We got it all in and were beginning to ready the boat to head south again.  After several last emails and faxes, we pulled out of Barra planning to head south.  Once we began to leave the bay, it turned out that the winds were not favorable and Nancy and Dana were coming down with something, so we pulled into a little secret spot that we knew about from last year and tucked in for a couple of days waiting for the winds to shift and for the crew to feel better.  Mike and Fletcher had fun snorkeling and exploring.  We finally had good winds and headed back out in  a southerly direction.  The anchorage that we had planned on for that night was full, so we kept on going overnight.  We stopped at another anchorage for a nap the next day.  We pulled back out after a short rest and continued on to the next anchorage where we had a good nights sleep.  We ended up staying there for a couple of days.  Nancy was still sick with a pretty good fever going.  We caught up on school and Nancy got some rest.  We did another overnight trip and arrived at Isla Grande just outside of Ixtapa.  After school was caught up, we spent the day snorkeling and relaxing.  The next day we headed in to Zihuatanejo.  It was so great to arrive somewhere that we had spent time at last year.  Zihua is such a cute town and it is very easy to get around.  We had fun going back to some of our favorite restaurants.  The first night we went to a spot that had a salsa that has been haunting our taste buds since last year.  We have to try to figure out how to make it!  The kids were reunited with a friend that they have played with on and off since August, so that was nice too.  We are anchored near where we did last year, and there is a great beach to go into in the afternoons.  Hopper was getting daily beach walks and swims and the kids get to go boogie  boarding everyday.  We have some happy campers on board!  To get to the beach, we dingy in almost to shore and anchor just outside the waves.  Then we all jump into the waves, including Hopper!  Getting back out to the dingy we swim through the waves and then climb back into the dingy.  We are all pretty good at it, even Hopper, who loves the water, but is not too keen on waves.  Once it is time to go, he just charges it back out to the dingy.  One morning we woke up and when we looked outside, there was an 8-10 foot crocodile right next to the boat O.  He was just swimming around the bay, meandering between the boats.  We understand that these fellows have not been a problem with humans, that they eat mostly small rodents and fish.  Humph, makes you think about jumping in the water!  One day there was a homemade ice cream party on the beach.  Everyone took turns cranking and brought different toppings.  Wow, was that a treat.  Just in time for the ice cream/beach day, another kid boat that we met in Barra pulled in.  We spent lots of time with them.  There was frequent kid swaps O and sleep-overs happening as well as hikes O and beach time O.  We will really miss them when we leave.  That is one thing that is hard with this life style, you connect with people and then you take off in different directions.  This is probably hardest on Nancy, to not have consistent women friends to talk to.  There are always new friends, but not any tried and true friends to talk things out with.  One of those trade off things.  The last weekend days of January were spent on the beach, except for Nancy who was compiling the year end figures and working on this website!

PHOTO JOURNAL

January

Please click to enlarge!

  The kids return with lots of Christmas presents 

  A crocodile swimming just past our boat in Zihuatenejo

  Rain day in Z-town, off with some other kids for a movie

  Desiderata and Anamchara kids on a hike to the lighthouse

  Desiderata crew on a hot hike

  Lots to see, even some baby turtles

  The kids always wanted to do a banana boat ride

                                                                                                                                                                                                           back to home page