We thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas and New Year's Eve aboard our boat in Mazatlan, Mexico. Here's an update on what we've been up to over the last month.
We had fun with our friends, Judy and Wayne, during their visit to the El Cid Resort in early December. We went to a Bluewater Cruising Association dinner which was well attended. We also went kayaking and did the Mazatlan Art Walk.
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| Wayne enjoying a beer at a Bluewater Cruising Association dinner gathering |
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| Judy enjoying a beer at the same dinner gathering |
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| Jan & Douglas out for a kayak ride. Wayne, Judy and Kim were ahead of us |
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| Jan, Judy & Wayne on the rooftop of the Freeman Hotel for dinner and drinks |
We were invited to play Texas Hold'em with a group of friends every Tuesday night in the El Cid Lobby Bar. Some weeks there's more people interested in playing that there's room for at the table. Unfortunately our regular dealer had to go home (Vancouver BC) so Kim has now taken over as dealer. Kim and I haven't won yet but our turn is coming ... one day maybe (ha ha). It's fun though and we do have lots of laughs!
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| Kim playing Texas Hold'em with friends in the El Cid Lobby Bar |
We walk 3 miles for 6 days of the week, just taking Sundays off. Our group changes as people come and go. We've had as many as 8 people participating and as few as 2 (including myself). We enjoy the sunshine, fresh air, exercise and each others company. We stop at the top of one of the bridges to see how many Stingrays we can see in the ocean - usually 3 or 4.
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| Walking group meets by the pool for the daily 3 mile walk - Douglas joins us most days too! |
In December we enjoyed many social activities including a very well attended potluck dock party and then the El Cid Resort Marina Christmas Party held on December 12th. El Cid provided appitizers and drinks to all their Marina guests. It was very enjoyable although to be honest, I felt more than a little ill the next day after drinking far too many Margaritas. The week before Christmas our friends, Barb and Jean, hosted their 3rd annual Champagne Christmas Party aboard their 50 foot sailboat. We were invited to attend and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were 24 people aboard and I hear collectively we drank 17 bottles of Champagne between us. It was very successful so I suspect there will be a 4th annual Champagne party!
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| Marilyn, Jean & Barb at the Champagne Christmas Party |
Some folks decorate their boats for Christmas and they looked really lovely.
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| El Cid Resort Marina - some boats were very nicely decorated |
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| Motor Vessel Noyo Star was lit up and looked lovely |
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| Kim in front of one of the El Cid golf carts used to transport people and luggage. They decorated it to look like a sleigh for Christmas |
We spent Christmas Eve with 3 other couples. We went out for a nice Turkey dinner first, then to the Mechado for drinks, live music and a game of Uno. The musician playing there was very good and people were dancing in the square. It was so cute to watch the little kids dancing the night away.
On Christmas night we went out with 4 other couples to a buffet style dinner at a downtown restaurant. The food was not very good but the company was most enjoyable.
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| Jan & Kim in the El Cid Lobby at Christmas |
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| Jan & Kim in the Mechado on Christmas Eve |
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Christmas Eve in the Mechado with friends for live music, drinks and a friendly game of Uno
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January is ramping up to be a busy month for us. Some people we met here last season have just returned for a holiday. One couple and their friends are from Minnesota, and another couple from Toronto. We are taking them all out tomorrow for a sail, snorkelling and lunch on the boat, weather permitting as it's really windy and quite cool right now. Afterwards we will go out for dinner and drinks with them.
Our friends from Saltspring Island, Scott and Tanya, just arrived in La Paz on their sailboat Kialoa. Congratulations Scott and Tanya! We are hoping to go visit them there in mid January for 3 or 4 days to celebrate Tanya's milestone Birthday on January 18th. The ferry ride is 16 hours long so we first have to confirm that Douglas will be allowed on the ferry, and in our Stateroom as well. We will firm those plans up in the next day or two.
On January 23rd our daughter and grandkids are scheduled to arrive which we're really excited about. They'll be staying with us until January 31st. This month is bound to fly by!
We are still hoping our son and daughter-in-law will make it for a visit with us too. They emailed us on Christmas day and said they are planning to come before we leave (end of March).
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and that 2015 brings you health, wealth and much happiness.
I will sign off now and leave you with these photos of Douglas. Hope you do as he does and relax and smell the roses (or in his case, smell the bugs and iguanas).
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| Douglas relaxing on the boat - does he look relaxed??? |
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| Play time with a big bug |
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| Up close and personal |
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| The bug |
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| Play time with an iguana |
