CHRISTMAS IN MAY

My Christmas presents went to La Paz (where we spent Christmas) but we had to leave before they got there. Then our friends on Adios III  picked them up in La Paz and sailed them to Hiva Oa where they left them in a pizza restaurant. We were going to go to Hiva Oa but our rudder broke so we went to Nuku Hiva, 100 miles away from Hiva Oa. Our friends on BLUE MOON picked up the presents for us, and brought them to us in Nuku Hiva.

For us down here in the southern hemisphere it's winter but the months are the same so Christmas is in the summer. And in Australia they go and have barbies on the beach for Christmas, (barbecues, although I did like the idea that they barbecue barbies)  

Thanks to everyone for reading my blog and . . .  Merry Christmas in May!

                               

                                            MAIA!

Marquesan Horses

Marquesan horses were imported by Admiral Dupetit-Thouars from Chile in 1842 and he gave them as      gift to Chief Iotete. The horses were small but strong and their decedents are still living in all the big islands. They're still a very important part of the culture. You can see Marquesans giving their horses baths at the beach, watch people ride their horses down the main street, and see foals dancing around with their mothers. Up in the mountains wild horses gallop to their hearts content, their only visitors are the occasional car. Their colts grow up to be just as wild and free as they are. Some are tethered at the edge of the road, content to graze peacefully. You can see wild and free horses or quiet and meek horses. I think they all love their new home.

A local bathing his horse--pictures by Maia

Landfall

Hi! I'm back! That's right, me the amazing, crazy-but-wonderful Maia Selkirk is back! We have safely

crossed the biggest ocean in the world with only minor mishaps! (Although we did lose a rudder)

We're in NUKU HIVA with our friends on WHATCHA GONNA DO. Nuku Hiva is very green, lush, and beautiful. It rains a lot here. I am attempting to learn French.

We visited some ruins with big, scary, dark pits of despair.(Which are actually sacrifice pits)  

We can't go swimming here cause there's a big old shark here. I saw his fin coming towards the dinghy at the dinghy dock when I was sitting in the dinghy.

                BYE TILL NEXT TIME!

                           MAIA SELKIRK!

South Pacific Planning

We're leaving for the South Pacific. In a couple of weeks. And my mom hasn't even started provisioning! As you might have noticed, we're not super prepared. Our friends on SAVANNAH left about a week ago. Let's just say not every thing's completely normal, for an instance after this blog post I'm supposed to design and make a float for our man overboard pole. Not a normal school day, huh? Anyways I'm kind of sad cause we'll be leaving a lot of really good friends like Hotspur and Windfall but we'll meet new ones and find old ones. All in all it's a pretty good life.

A day trip from Melaque - photo essay by Maia

Questions for Maia

 Maia's mum here. A while ago (a really long while ago...) Maia invited her readers to ask questions. But because I'm terrible about tracking comments we missed the fact that several families asked her things. So, better late than never, here are her answers. Feel free to ask more, or re-ask other things I've missed... And I promise to look this time—they make a great home schooling activity.

When did you learn to drive the outboard? 

I forget. It was so long ago!

 

 Did Charlie the cat settle in easily?

Kind of. If you count hiding behind the water maker for 2 months easily. And he was seasick for the first few months.

 How did you feel when you left stuff behind?

It was hard but not as hard as leaving my friends behind.

Does your life vest bug you? 

Not really because I only have to wear it out of the cockpit in rough weather or at night. (Maia had to pass a swimming test and swim 3x around the boat in wavy/windy conditions to be freed from day to day pdf wear.) But we had to try a lot of different life jackets to find one that was comfortable. 

What scares or bothers you about living on the boat?

Nothing except for storms.

What do you like best about living on your boat?

Waking up every morning and having a new back yard. 

Do you miss having friends around all the time?

Sometimes, but I have a lot of cruising friends.

Crocodiles

 Crocodile babies are small, only about 1& a half feet long. How do I know? Not because I read a lot, (although I do) not because I saw pictures, (although I have) I know because I've seen them. (Although not in a zoo.) I saw them in the mangroves of Tenacatita. 

 We were cruising down the mangroves minding our own business when suddenly my mom started yelling at my dad to turn the dinghy around and get the camera because she had seen a crocodile. By the time we turned the dinghy around it was gone, but we were excited because when there's one there's bound to be more. I kept looking and soon we spotted the second one; it had a long snout and was olive green and lumpy. It was a baby. After that we saw three more.

not a crocodile, just a nice bird...

 See you later alligator,

in a while crocodile.

    

KABOOM!!!

That is how my day started. I was sleeping peacefully when the first firework went off at a stupidly  early hour – BOOM – BOOM!!! ( By the way this blog post is going to have a lot of loud noises ) It was our Lady of Peace day.( I think setting off fireworks is a great way to celebrate peace, don't you?)

 Anyway, my mom thought it would be cool to go to the blessing of the fleet. So we went. After  escaping death several times(almost being run over by a panga is not my idea of fun) we had a lot of fun.

 In the evening we went to the fiesta which is Spanish for, have – a lot – of – fun – and – stay – up – really – late. We had a lot of fun and maybe one day you'll come you'll come to Mexico and go to the fiesta.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!! We spent Christmas in La Paz.

Some of the festivities included setting off fire works . . . .

Informing my parents it was Christmas at 6 am   . . . . . . .

And of course decorating the tree

From my cat I got a little electric dog that runs around and yips . In my stocking I got tiny sparklers. And I got several new books.

We had to do our Christmas shopping in the markets. The market was outdoor on the streets. It’s made up of stalls made from tarps and inside, people sell anything from pencils, to dogs, to a dolls tea set. We got a lot of good stuff there. In a Mexican market at Christmas the scene was a little less than chaotic. Of course it was organized chaos. Anyways I think it was a pretty good Christmas.

New Friends

I've met two new friends. Trinidad and Samantha are two little girls, 5 & 7.  I put on the play Pippy Longstocking with them. ( I was Pippy of course). We had a lot of fun. We're having a sleepover tonight as well. They live in Arizona when they are not on their boat called Endurance. When the market on Sundays happens we go together. Trinadad has blond hair and green eyes and is 5, Samantha has brown hair and brown eyes and is 7 they're sisters. They're both really nice. And funny!

The way cruising kids make friends is if you see a kid at a potluck or something you just go up and say “hi what's your name?”

Christmas Plans

Dear Santa, You might remember me from last year. I'm the little kid on a boat who is sailing around the world?"

 Maia is working on Christmas cards and Christmas letters today. We want to pop them in the mail before heading out of here. We've actually decided on a destination for Christmas. For a variety of reasons we're not heading south as quickly as we first planned. So Ceilydh is going to go Christmas caroling in La Paz this year.

For the past hour we've been going through the options for our Christmas destination but it was the happy memory of getting mail at Club Cruceros when we were cruising 15 years ago that really sold us on the little Baja city. So for friends and family (and any random strangers who want to surprise a homesick little girl with a Christmas greeting) we can receive letter mail or *very* small packages at this address:

Maia Selkirk

S/V Ceilydh

Apdo. Postal 366

La Paz, CP 23000, BCS, Mexico

Expect things to take 2-4 weeks to arrive. Roughly about the same amount of time it will take us to get there…

Tips For Cruisers in the Sea of Cortez

The Sea of Cortez Islands are a amazing place filled with nature. Animals who don't live anywhere else in the world live there. So we have to protect the natural beauty and not set up big resorts that put out advertisements saying, “Have your dream vacation here only! Meet a friendly dolphin! Make 1000's of new friends!”

That's not why we're here folks! Ok maybe for the friends part but . . .

You can visit the Islands though sooooooooooooo 

 If you want to do that here are some tips . . . .

1.         Before you get to the Islands brush your shoes and clothes because there's a type of grass called buffalo weed and it burns really fast and you might have the seeds on your shoes.

2.         Don't scare the birds because they'll fly away. There’s one type of bird that only has one chick a year and if she is scared away from her nest a rat could eat her egg or chick and the population could go extinct.

3.         Don't bring pets to the Islands because they'll make a mess and they could bring a disease.

4.         Don't collect shells because it's illegal.

5.         Here's one thing you can do – have fun.

 

The reason I know all this is because here in Guaymas a parks person came and gave us a presentation and she told us all the rules.