One of these days I will fully figure our this blogger thing. Once again our photos are in reverse order. We are currently in Guerro Negro about to leave Baja California Sur. We are moving north at the speed of migrating birds, or so it feels. We have spent the winter away from the cold and now we are heading north into what already feels like cold. We only have two more weeks in Baja before we meet Cheryl and Mike, Kristin's mom and brother.

On a more positive note we have been exploring this amazing peninsula one short day of driving at a time. We feel rushed even though we had a month just for Baja. There are so many times we have to tell ourselves, "we will be back and then we can explore that bay, or that beach, etc." We were cara-vanning with three Canadian friends, Greg, Mike and Jen, for the first two weeks. Those days were spent chasing wind, drinking beer when none was found and cooking great meals over open fires.

Our van, Lava, has been a dream come true for us. She surprises us with the hills she is able to climb, river beds she is able to cross and comfortable sleep she provides us, enabling us to dream. That was cheesy. On to the photos.

Street side tacos, my personal favorite, the more ghetto the better.

Crazy story. We were in Bahia Conception and we had heard the NOLS branch was there, in Coyote Bay. Kristin did a NOLS semester in Baja in 2003. We decided to see if anyone was at the branch, and sure enough, two of her instructors were there. Above is Kristin with Rej and Paul, the two instructors. AND Paul just spent 5 months in Antarctica, where he hung out with one of Kristin's best friends, Anna!

Coyote Bay. The view from our bed in the back of Lava.

What would the cacti in Baja do without me?

Greg attempting to kite in Juncalito.

Aren't we cute?

Kristin is happy with fruit baskets all around.

Wind and waves make my head spin. A combo fit for kings.

Hanging out in a spot not to be mentioned.

Final days in Baja. Jess, Kristin's high school friend came for an extended visit.

Hot springs!

We love wind!

Hello everybody!
As you can imagine, lots of exciting things have happened. Almost the entire Franger family (minus Lindsey, unfortunately), came for a week long, windless visit, and we greatly enjoyed their company. Now we have left La Ventana in search of waves, wind and new experiences. Of course all of these were accessible from La Ventana, but we wanted to see them in a different light. We have vowed to take more photos and publish on the blog more. Now we are making our attempts. We are currently in Loreto, on our way to Punta Abreojos.

Peace.

Greetings from beautiful Baja!

We are slowly settling into life in Mexico, and realizing we never want to leave. The wind finally started to blow, and we are meeting wonderful folks. Here is a preview of our past few weeks. We hope you all are well!
Much Love,
Colin and Kristin

The new addition to our family! ...only for one day. We adopted this adorable little 7 week old puppy, who we dubbed Oso (bear, en espanol). After one sleepless night and a reality check, we returned him and he found another loving (and permanent) home that same day. But what a cutie!

Our kite launch beach, a hundred feet north of our camp.

Colin dancing!

Local kiter.

Our friends Sal and Hannah, on her first launch lesson.

Us!

Standup paddling on a glassy calm morning.

Hannah and Kristin.

Hannah, practicing her paddleboard yoga.

The new Foote rep.

Lovely morning on the water.

Thank you to our photographer friend, Vik, supplying us with these spectacular pics.

Hello everybody!
Hope you all are doing well. We are sitting at a little restaurant, doing all our internet chores, and awaiting the wind. Everything is great here, except the wind. We have only had a few windy days so far, but it should be picking up. Colin taught me to fly my kite for the first time yesterday, and it was loads of fun. Pictures will tell more than I can, so here you go. Also, they are in opposite chronological order, and I do not have the patience to fix it, so start at the bottom.
Much love to all!
Colin and Kristin

Colin, chillaxin on the beach at La Ventana.

Huge margharitas, just across the street from our camp, for $2. A bit pricy, but darn good.

The view from our home. Those are others camped in the secret free arroyo.


Our beautiful home!

Leaving the boating world, trying to hitch a ride on this bustling road... kite gear and all.

Our friends Luke and Megan off their sailboat, Sapphire, and Christy and Jason off Hello World.

Notice we are sucking on limes... and they taste like sugar! Incredible.

This stuff is crazy. It is a fruit, which you eat in concentrated form, and it makes anything sour into the sweetest thing you have ever tasted. How? I do not know. But we tried it, and it was crazy.

Our dear lady friends, Sarah from Stepping Stone, and Christy from Hello World. Unfortunately we only have a photo of Sarah, but Elias, Kimberly, and Boo, we are thinking of you too. Thank you all for a truly awesome experience.

Jason and Christy

One last jumpy before we leave the boating world. La Ventana in the background.

Land!

We made it! We are camping in La Ventana, Colin is kiting to his little heart's content, and I am learning. Life is beautiful... and cheap... and all is well. Pictures soon!
Hope y'all are well, much love,
Colin and Kristin

Greetings from Hello World!

We live a hard life.
We are currently relaxing on a new boat we have joined, Hello World, owned by our friends Christi and Jason, along with Kim, all hailing from Seattle. This morning we awoke with the sunrise and went kayaking to Lover's Beach, where we frolicked in the sand and realized it was the first earth we had set foot on in two days. As the sun rose, we watched the surf crash upon the magnificent granite pillars as the herd of local fishing boats headed out to catch their fill of tuna.

Now to rewind: Our time in San Diego was wonderful. It was a week of respite from being on the Allymar, having our freedom beyond a 38 ft. space, and best of all, seeing friends and family. Thank you to Grandma, Aunt Susie and Uncle Mark, surfer John, and Michelle and housemates. You all allowed us to have an extremely rich week in SD.

We left San Diego in high spirits with a fleet of 200 other sailboats; a mass exodus south. There we three legs of the Haha: the first was SD to Bahia de Tortuga, a three day/2 night endeavor. The seas were big and the winds strong: 20-30 knot winds and 10 - 20 ft. seas. There was one moment that Colin thinks was just so darn hysterical: first of all, both of us were deathly sea sick, puking every 10 minutes off the side of the boat. As I was sitting in the cockpit, reveling in my discomfort, I looked over the side of the boat and instantly my jaw dropped, as a huge wave crested over the side of the Allymar, continued over my head, and crashed right on top of me. Dead on. Colin instantly started laughing uncontrollably, as he had been protected by the plastic dodger. Real funny.

Our first stop at Turtle Bay was short and sweet. We all gathered for a beach party, drank ice cold Pacifico and played bocce ball. The second leg was to Bahia Santa Maria, a gorgeous bay with no real town, and complete with hills to hike, waves to surf, and fish to catch. Between raw yellow tail, seared dorado, and many other fish, we haven't been eating too bad. Colin surfed all day at Santa Maria with our friend Elias, and returned with scratches, bruises, fish, and bright eyes, telling me how it was his best day of surfing, ever.

The last leg was a shorty: one night, two days. We arrived in Cabo with a sense of relief and accomplishment... only to be welcomed by what looked like Mexican Las Vegas. We joined the official shore party at a local rowdy bar, Squid Row, only to be strangely amused and disgusted. We were force fed jello shots and charged $5/beer. Don't worry, after a group protest, we did not pay $70 USD for all those jello shots.

Colin and I decided to hop onto this new boat for our trip north to La Ventana, and we are extremely happy and excited to be on a boat with new young folks and all possibilities ahead of us. We hope all you family and friends are doing well and enjoying the changing seasons. Take care and enjoy every moment, and thanks for checking out the blog!

Much Love,
Colin and Kristin

Thank you, Grandma, for the tickets to the zoo. It certainly was a highlight.

These tortoises were huge.

Monkey child!

Haha boats.

Bocce ball at Turtle Bay.

Allymar.

This tuna was the winner of a local contest: over 300 pounds! Almost a world record. Too bad it sat in the sun all day and went to waste.

I'm on a boat! Our new home on Hello World.

Rope swinging off the main halyard.

Morning kayak to Lover's Beach.