Aquarelle and Shambala rafted up on Christmas, at Caleta Partida. Aquarelle are Canadians with 3 boys, ages 10 to 6; Shambala are Austrailian with a boy and girl, 10 and 8. Too bad Koiya wasn't with us- she missed out on kid time!
Our Christmas photo. We were trying to get our lights (around the mirror) to show up.
Todd gave me chocolate and earrings. I had wanted chocolate earrings, but this was pretty close. The earrings are lovely black coral, a great remembrance of the Sea of Cortez. And dark chocolate is hard to find here in Mexico!
I got Todd rum, pork rinds, and a shirt featuring whales.
Christmas dinner was meat loaf, without the meat. I guess that makes it just loaf.
Dessert was key lime pie. I was so worn out from beating the egg whites by hand that I didn't have the energy to beat Todd.
Todd's video for GreatSchools.
Why would I beat Todd, you ask? For giving me a look like this. Man! What dark thoughts might be running through that proto-human brain?
Preparing to hike on Isla Partida. We made it to the top of the ridge you see in the background.
Our trusty dinghy.
Todd always seems a bit annoyed when I make him stop for a photo.
Looking back at Caleta Partida.
And the view from higher up.
And higher still...
The view from the top!
On the other side of the ridge, you can see down into the next cove over.
I'm taller than I look in this photo. There is some weird optical effect here making me look short.
Scrambling back down.
This gives you an idea of what we had to climb up at the very top. It really wasn't that bad.
The water over the sandy shoal is a beautiful turquoise.
Video of the pelicans fishing. These don't do a very spectacular dive (sometimes they go in really fast!) but you can see their beautiful flight. We never tire of watching them!
This just in at the Pathetic Department: Todd's photo of the GPS plotting our position at anchor, showing that we're holding well.
On Caleta El Candelero, tourists "camp out" in fancy tents. They kayak around the island, then stop to find their tents all set up, hot water showers, and a gourmet meal. We hated those tourists.
The fresh water well at Candelero.
This looks like a wasps' nest to me, but I took the photo because there is an endemic bee species that I saw on the flowers of a tree.
A wild fig. Note the trunk growing into the rock.
At some point, water carved these rocks.
That's Sugata at anchor on the left.
A little lizard suns itself.
Al Caleta El Cardonal, you can hike to the other side of the island. Todd said it was such a joy to see me spring from rock to rock, that he wanted me to follow the zig zag of this ridge, as close to the edge as possible.
The lagoon at El Cardonal.
We hiked up this ridge too, and saw an endemic black jackrabbit!
There was a little boulder near the lagoon. We had fun climbing it!
The crew of Jenny: David, Mary, and Nicholas the Havanese. They had us over for a delicious dinner and movie on New Year's Eve. A fun couple! We loved touring their beautiful boat, a Norhaven 46.
Todd after pulling an all-nighter. An all-night anchor watch, that is!
Sunset at El Candelero. The light was purple!
The same sunset, looking west.
The vessel Sea Lion takes passengers on natural history tours. The captain helped us out with a radio relay- seems like a cool guy!
Relaxing and reading below.
This boat stuff is like... really hard!
Todd sleeps a lot when we're anchored out. I had to use natural light for this photo, because with the flash, the glare from his pale skin confused the camera's light meter.
I took this shot for the reflection of the spinnaker in Todd's glasses. He thinks this photo makes him look "bad ass".
The spinnaker! I can never resist it's bright colors.
The whale museum.
That's the skull of a fin whale being restored.
A whale sculpture made out of plastic bottles!
Koiya explains something to Todd about the whales of Mexico.
"When I'm restoring whale bones", explained Todd, "I use the same materials that went into making our boat."
The bone next to Koiya is real; to the right is a reproduction.
Dolphin skeletons. The one on the left is a common dolphin; the middle and right are bottlenose dolphins.
At this museum, they teach kids to make sculptures from recycled materials. The sculptures were impressive!
The fluke of a gray whale.
The whale museum is housed in two domes. A really cool place!
La Casita, the restaurant across the street from the whale museum, made a mean sandwich: ham, cheese, bacon, avocado. The combination was a revelation to Todd.
Nativity scene in front of the National Theater.
My favorite: the chickens.
Mexican playgrounds are totally unsafe... in other words, fun!
We'd never seen such a terrifying see-saw.
Video of Todd and Koiya on the see-saw.
Our friend the black crowned night heron, on our bow pulpit!
Daniel and one of his guinea pigs, Negra. The other is Frodo.
The deck of Eduardo's house. In the warm summer, the whole family sleeps out here.
Orejas ("Ears") was Koiya's favorit of the three dogs.
Guess what this dog's name is? Chocolate!
Eduardo and Lucy have a lovely house!
Koiya and Daniel play a Star Wars game.
Todd is such a nerd- he took a picture of the kids' game.
Lucy prepares a taco feast.
Eduardito helps with the salad.
Koiya and Todd couldn't wait to get into the German sausages.
Eduardo breaks new culinary ground: The bratwurst taco!
Feeding frenzy. Que rica!
Koiya and a tamarind tree. She loves the tart fruit.
The neighbor's beautiful cat.
Todd on the beach near Eduardo's house. The neighborhood is called Comitan.
The tidal estuary.
Eduardo took this shot so there'd be a picture with me in it.
