sea school | A Family Afloat

Ok, I don’t normally go out of order , but I’m still behind and Christian just sent me too many cool photos to not post right away . So here they are: photos from Puerto Peñasco and along their way south way up in the top of the Sea of Cortez. I will be reunited with them in only a few days! The girls excited to get back to the boat to try out our new Independent Wolf Hammocks. Auntie Tara, professional photographer, managed to the get the kids (Nina 14, Taj 4 and Ellamae 9) together before heading back to the boat to take photos. Here, they posed in their Teeny Tiny Optics sunglasses.

Taj kayaking in the water in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point).The kids had fried ice cream the night before they set sail. A little treat before hot deserted seclusion for a few weeks.

After over a month of being hauled out in Puerto Penasco, S/V Shawnigan’s makeover was complete and ready to set sail to Bahia de Los Angeles.

There she is… S/V Shawnigan out Stevens 40 cutter rigged beauty. Taj representing his Keep it Wild tee, he’s ready to get back in the wild, that’s for sure!The red dot is Puerto Penasco. We finally figured out our PredictWind tracking system.

I’m guessing Christian had his earplugs in for this one! No time for boredom aboard Shawnigan.

Bahia de Los Angeles

Monkey Girls.Taj testing the new hammock. Yes, this kid does relax sometimes!

Isla Salsipuedes

Clams!!!Ellamae has been super into her modeling clay. Not just for boatschool.Our 4 year old, Taj, representing the xterra inflatable SUP!

isla Tiburon Just off of San Carlos!

Our original plan was to have a quick 3 day visit to Mazatlán. We recently heard of friends getting stuff robbed off their boat in the middle of the night in the anchorage south of old town, so we anchored off of Isla Venados the first night. The next day we brought the boat to Marina Mazatlán. We heard the marina wasn’t too expensive and we rather pay a little money versus having items stolen off our boat. It also would allow us to make day field trips away from the boat without worrying about theft or dragging anchor.

Two days after our luxurious days in a marina, we noticed the leak in our boat was more serious than we expected. Everything was closed for boat repair/haul out, so we had to wait until Tuesday to do an emergency haulout to repair a broken thruhull for our engine intake. We managed to keep the boat floating through the weekend by using a plunger and bung. Yay! In the mean time we made the best of our forced extended stay in Mazatlán.

In hindsight, I’m grateful for the extended stay, even though our cruising kitty isn’t. Mazatlán is rich in history, full of beautiful people, good food, and has easy bus,taxi, and walks. The mall was in walking distance, which the girls loved. Walmart was also in walking distance, making provisioning easier. The bus ride to historic Mazatlán only costs $1 round trip. The taxi cost anywhere between 70-100 pesos ($5-$6) from downtown to the Marina. We did a lot of walking as well, including the “self-guided walking tour” of the historic district.

We recommend stopping in Mazatlán to all boaters. And definitely eat at Dock7 restaurant at Marina Mazatlán. The seafood is so fresh and amazing and the guys running it are super cool. They also play surfs videos, for an added bonus. 🙂