This afternoon, Brian, Isha and and our darling granddaughter Bella leave for Anchorage - they have been here since Monday the 25th, but the time has gone much too fast. I am sitting at the hotel pool watching them swim together in delightfully warm water. They have been enjoying the life.
For the first part of their visit, we were blessed with perfect cruising weather, and we made use of it. After dinner at the beach club on Monday night and watching Bella dance her way back to the boat along the sea shore, we left early on Tuesday and headed for Gallina, a little bay we had stopped at on our last trip. The water was beautiful, and Brian dove in almost as soon as the anchor was set. We had bought some swim toys prior to their arrival - a short swim board and a five foot wide inner tube with a bottom to pull behind the dingy. We put them both in the water and Bella joined us wearing a life jacket, and we all paddled around. Then came the excitement - Bella in the inner tube being pulled behind the dingy. If she was afraid, it was for no more than a minute, after which it was “faster Daddy, faster!”. Then we watched while Brian pulled Isha around. Unlike Bella who was firmly seated inside the tube, Isha was lying over the top and taking all the bumps on her torso. She had her back arched and looked like a swan. We felt the price of the inner tube was fully justified by just that one morning - and of course there were more to come.
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Bella and I took a nap together that afternoon while Brian and Isha explored the little beach for some alone time. That evening there were some killer connect four and cribbage games and early bedtime.
The next morning after Brian’s pre breakfast swim, he and Earl went fishing in the dingy. They caught an enormous trumpet fish which was an experience and saw a large school of yellow tail and some small mobulas. They also found that the reef on the south side of the bay was full of fish. Unfortunately, as has been the case this spring, they caught nothing worth keeping.
Meanwhile, the ladies went swimming off the boat. The water was clear, in the 70’s and the sea was glassy. It is hard to think of better conditions.
Then we were off to check out another near by bay, Balena. Isha was amazed that we just had to go a short way to find another example of paradise. This one had a better beach, so we took the dingy over, dragging Bella in her inner tube. While Brian and Isha sat and read their books, Bella and I played in the water. The water was quite shallow, so it was perfect for us. I had wonderful time dragging her on her small surf board and trying to tip her into the water. Then, after a late lunch, we took a nap and treated her parents to a little more quiet time.
We picked up the anchor and moved around the corner into Caleta Partita for the night. So far there had been no wind, but Balena was not where we would want to be if the SW winds that were predicted were to materialize. (They didn’t).
The next morning we woke to Daisy barking. There was a turtle in the water and every time its head came up, she would let us know. Shortly after, we saw some small rays, called mobulas, jumping. Then we took off for a day long fishing trip. We went north around Isla Partita and then east off the other side where we have had luck in the past. On the way, we toured Los Islotas. These are some rocks on the north end of the island that boast a sea lion colony. They were there barking (and smelling fishy) and we had fun watching them. Some people swim with them, but that does not appeal to me. The male bulls can be 800 pounds, and even a full grown female is 200 pounds. But we had fun looking at them from off shore. Then to make our visit complete, we had a visit from a bunch of bottle nose dolphins. They were feeding, but stopped to play with us a little. Everyone got a thrill watching them braiding back and forth under the bow in the crystal clear blue water.
We ran 10 miles off shore and had the luck to run into a bunch of marlin, finning on the surface. We tried for a while to hook one, dragging gear right by them, but no luck. It was fun to see them, even without hooking any. We passed the time happily, including finishing up Doctor Dolittle which I had the pleasure of reading to Bella.
We pulled into Bonanza on the east side of Espiritu Santo at about 4. The water temperature read 76 and we could see our anchor below the boat in 12 feet of water. In we went. We tied the toys to the boat with long lines so they did not float off, and, after noticing the slight current and wind, did the same to Bella. We certainly did not want to loose her.
Bonanza is lovely sand beach, probably about 1.5 miles long and the next day we pretty much had it all to ourselves. Brian and Isha set up a day camp on the beach under our beach umbrella, including books, cooler, inflated croc, sand pails etc. The water was a little deeper than on the west side beaches, so Brian and Isha were able to work with Bella on really swimming. They walked down the beach and Bella filled the sand pails with shells. They came back to the boat for lunch and I tried to get Bella to rest while her parents returned to the beach. (She didn’t.) After giving up on that, she got in her inner tube and I swam to the beach, towing her. She kept telling me to go faster. We played in the water and I was impressed by how much more confident she had become in the water. She was really beginning to swim.
That afternoon the wind came up. The waves really bounced us around when we returned to the boat in the dingy and we had a difficult time getting off without falling into the water. It was made even more difficult by the thirsty bees which had swarmed to our back deck to get water. Earl pulled the anchor and we moved off shore a little for the night so that we could cook our hamburgers without bees.
By the next morning it was clear that the wonderful weather was changing and there were significant winds forecasted for later. We left Bonanza and headed into Balandra on the mainland for a lunch stop. The beach is heavily used and as it was Saturday we had a good deal of company. Also, although the setting is beautiful, the water is perhaps too shallow and we found some trash on the beach which was sad.
That afternoon we pulled into our slip at Costa Baja having had a wonderful cruise and content to let the wind blow as hard as it chose for the rest of the kids visit.
So then it was time to explore the shore amenities. Bella’s birthday is May 12th and I had promised her we would have a small early birthday celebration in Mexico. So the first morning on land, Bella, Isha and I went to town in search of a new ‘princess’ dress at the public market which is quite a contrast to the shopping malls at home. It was a great success. All the purple and yellow dresses in her size were brought out for her inspection and she ultimately settled on a purple one with spaghetti straps that makes her inappropriately dressed for a seven year old. Then following directions from the proprietress of the dress shop, we found a shop with lots of pinatas. Bella selected a large green one with cones from which crepe paper hung, while I wondered how we were going to hang a pinata in the boat and break it open with out smashing the boat. Earl took us up to the golf club restaurant on the hill for lunch and we enjoyed the beautiful view. (Sadly, when we returned, he managed to delete all the photos from his camera.)
The next day, Isha and I returned to town to pick up some items to put into the pinata while Bella and Brian went to the pool at the Beach Club. It is gorgeous! Brian enjoyed his beer and a book while Bella played in the pool.
After we got back from town, Isha joined them, and when they returned, it was time for the birthday celebration. Bella dressed for the occasion in her new dress. After dinner, but before the cake, we took on the pinata. We hung it in the salon and Bella went after it with Earl’s fish killing club. The first blow knocked it down, still intact. We hung it back up, she hit it again, and again it fell. Then we took turns holding it while someone swung at it. Finally, Bella beat it to death on the floor of the salon. Since she was the only kid, it was actually much better that the contents had to be individually retrieved rather than having them scattered all over the boat. In addition to some candy, we had found some wonderful hair clip ribbons, sparkly rings and bracelets which were a huge hit. She was in heaven!
Tuesday, next to last day found us at the hotel pool which has a bar in the corner with seats in the water. The kids went up first, and when I arrived, Isha was floating around with a strawberry daiquiri in hand. I tasted it and had to get one too. Bella meanwhile was really swimming. She had not figured out how to breath and sounded rather alarming when she finally came up for air, but she was perfectly happy in water over her head. She knows when she needs to rest that she can roll over onto her back and float.
The evening was spent playing some cut throat “Sorry”, a board game at which Isha is a pro. Poor Brian got beaten very badly, every game we played and we kept pointing out to Bella that he was being a good sport which was what we expected of her.
And now, after early morning games of Connect Four and Sorry, we are back to the pool for the last swim before a late afternoon flight home to Alaska. Earl has joined us so that he can see Bella’s swimming. We have the pool to ourselves and the bar man is tempting us with all his creations. In addition to strawberry daiquiris, he makes pina coladas with mint that are to die for. Bella feels very grown up with her strawberry smoothie. She has swum steadily for 2 hours which should ensure a sleep on the flight home. We will miss them!
Tomorrow I leave for a quick trip to the East Coast for a family wedding and some family business. Earl will be taking Serenity out of the water while I am gone and getting her bottom painted!
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