We were blessed to have such a beautiful place to celebrate Christmas. Christmas looked a little different this year, which was a little hard, but we were blessed to have Paul’s mom with us. We did our best to keep as many traditions as possible: advent calendars (lego nativity, Christmas puzzle and chocolate for the kids; wine and cocktails for Paul and I!); sugar cookies; elves (Elvis even joined us for a Fournado ride to the beach!)
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day afternoon at gorgeous Belandra Beach, where white sands met gorgeous, clear turquoise blue water, surrounded by beautiful rocky landscapes. We had to anchor the Fournado in the water almost a half a mile off the shore and wade in calf-deep water to the beach, where the kids and I carefully constructed sand snowmen, made sand angels and walked to the iconic La Paz mushroom, which was rebuilt after it was torn down by tourists.
Besides being excited to wakeboard and tube, we had a blast trying out our new Seabobs! They are a blast to zoom both over water and then dive underneath the water to check out the fish! Check out our cute little pufferfish!
The day after Christmas, we had the unforgettable experience of swimming with the beautiful, massive juvenile whale sharks, who come to the waters of Bahia de la Paz in the winter to feed on plankton. The majestic, defenseless creatures didn’t seem to mind when we slid in the water to swim alongside them and observe them feeding (the guide said we are probably like mosquitos to them, and when one of the whales picked up her/his speed in a possible sign of annoyance, she told us to let her/him go).
After the unparalleled morning, we had an amazing seafood lunch with our friends, fellow Nordhavn boat, that we met in Alaska, the Pendana! The next day, we did some food, fishing rod (the fish keep breaking our line!), and souvenir shopping in downtown La Paz. We were too stuffed from lunch to eat dinner but decided delicious churros with caramel sauce would make the perfect treat to end the day. On the way to find the churro stand, I couldn’t resist hugging the Grinch. Despite the hot days and palm trees, La Paz does not disappoint in their Christmas celebrations!
We left La Paz early Saturday morning to motor to Isla Espiritu Santo, an UNESCO world heritage site, where we anchored for the day. I was originally hoping to swim with the sea lions, but you are required to have a guide. Regardless, we found a gorgeous spot to anchor and snorkeled amongst beautiful coral and tropical fish and relaxed on our “island”. Another yacht in the anchorage even let us try out their huge waterslide, which extended from their third level to the water and shot you into the water!
Next stop, a day in Mazatlan!