.: May 10 - 19, 2008

Shelby & Doug’s visit, Sailing to the National Marine Parks & Swimming with Sea Lions.

Itinerary: La Paz, Puerto Balandra, Ensenada Grande, Los Islotes, Isla San Francisco, Isla Coyote, San Evaristo, Caleta Partida, La Paz.

Our first night together - Doug, Shelby, Di and Peter at sunset in La Paz.

Doug, a friend from Silver Star and his 10-year old daughter Shelby joined a 9-day trip from La Paz to some of the islands of the National Marine Parks and then back again to La Paz. We left on Mother’s Day (it was so great to get emails from all of the kids) and headed to our first anchorage of Puerto Balandra. This was Shelby’s first experience in salt water and snorkelling.

Our favourite anchorage in Isla San Francisco .....taken at sunset at the top of the ridge

We had fabulous weather for the entire trip (including a few nights with strong Coromuel winds to keep things exciting), days of sailing (although not as much wind as we would have hoped), daily sightings of schools of dolphins & pelicans, lots of snorkelling, fantastic hiking including ridge hikes and boulder climbing through the cactus, and other shore excursions to sea caves and fishing villages. The undisputed highlight of the trip was snorkelling and swimming with wild sea lions and their pups at Los Islotes, a sea lion rookery. Doug, our official photographer will be sending the video when he gets home.

Doug and Shelby were the perfect guests (and awesome pancake makers) and we enjoyed their visit immensely! Shelby was a keener about everything and she quickly learned all the nautical terms and took her responsibilities onboard very seriously and was a big help! I really enjoyed her company, her enthusiasm and playing tons of games with her including Othello, Scrabble and Double Solitaire. She even charmed Peter so much he let her turn the station from Outlaw country to the Disney channel featuring “Milo Cyrus” as he always teased her that she was called. Shelby reminded me so much of Kylie at that age!

We were sad to see them go…and we hope that Shelby’s bee sting in her toe gets better. Thanks to both of you for a memorable experience!!!

Peter & I are heading off today for a a 4-night horse back packing trip up in the mountains, topping it off with a “sleepover” at our friends in Los Brailles.