Nov 10 - Ensenada de los Muertos

A couple of stops outside Cabo, and lo we have wi-fi, and got Skype working! Just as well, as my cellphone (Verizon) has almost no coverage, and Patti's (AT&T) has great coverage but can't call out, even after 90 minutes with tech support.

Last two stops have been very sweet. Had to motor-sail to Los Frailes, but when we got there we found great snorkeling in a tiny cove around the bend (basically a little beach with some coral close to it, but lots of fish, and our first snorkeling experience of the trip). We also found a great family restaurant along a road and over a hill, with KILLER coconut shrimp (lobster and scallops not bad either), and the best limonade we've ever had - homemade in a blender with yerba buena (mint) from the garden.

Then we actually got to sail most of the way to this sweet spot, as forecast northerlies turned NE and held at a nice 12-18 kn. Here there is a well-protected anchorage so the boys have been snorkeling around the boat and just swimming a lot - tonight we'll try snorkeling with a light (in a zip-lock), there are some neat fish whose eyes reflect the light when we shine a flashlight down. And of course this nice internet cafe/restaurant, which also has an outdoor shower and a phone for free calls to US and Canada!

So what with the warm water and seeing more latinos around, the boyz are getting more comfortable in their bodies, really relishing swimming, diving, boogie-boarding and the like - noticably more than they did at our first stop in the HaHa (Turtle Bay) for example. Don't tell anyone, but they actually swam nekkid this morning, and didn't give us too hard a time about that kissing contest you were all wondering about. So yeah, it's basically the last organized activity of the HaHa - an informal contest where couples (and one confused trio) try to outdo Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's passion in the surf of From Here to Eternity. All pretty pg-rated, the biggest thrill is getting a big wave, which our crew managed perfectly. We assumed the boys would both turn away or try to talk us out of it, but they were pretty neutral, which is a big step.

I gotta give another big thank you to Pete and Jean for their boat, and the boat's name - everybody remembers it (especially after I corrected the Grand Poobah when he called her Neener3 - "that's Neener Neener Neener, to you"). I now have a long list of things to do, but so far none seem to be horrendously critical - at least yet.

Tomorrow we leave early for La Paz, where we'll stay in one marina or another for a couple weeks. Clean up the salt-encrusted boat, put away all the warm clothes in buried hiding places, get Patti and boys in Spanish immersion classes, and I hope to get some serious (paying) work done, we can't do this on vacation time forever...