Sometimes it is fun to be in a crowd, at a park, particularly on a holiday weekend. We had a great time at Ilot Nge on Halloween weekend. The anchorage and mooring field were packed on the weekend as boats full of working stiffs escaped the capital city of Noumea for a weekend of playing at this marine park. Even with this rush, there were only a hand full of kiters here and we had the water relatively to ourselves (and our friends).  Launch spot: S22°19'35.70" E166°19'13.88"

The North side of the island was good kiting at all tides. The South side got a little “crunchy” with coral at all but high tide. You could work your way upwind to the waves or to this gorgeous area of flat water over sand where the only obstacle was some spikes coming out of the water from an old shipwreck.

Some of the moorings are in water too shallow for us but there were plenty to choose from and you could anchor outside the mooring field in slightly lumpier water if you chose. We had three excellent days of kiting there and a fun Halloween party on the beach with the crews of Dream Time and Andromeda.

I (Livia) recently joined the ranks of the tweeners. To mark this occasion, Carol and I spent a few days on our own in the bay of Onemea on Taravai.

Carol made crepes for breakfast, we picnicked on the beach for lunch, and with dinner, thanks to Robbie H, we were able to afford a great bottle of wine.

It was a birthday to go down in the memory books and a huge thank you for making it special. The sunset that we toasted it to was nothing short of spectacular – directly into the ocean over the encircling reef of Mangareva.

We haven’t had access to good inexpensive wine for years now and that means we don’t get to have good wine very often. This was a real treat for us.

Thank you, thank you Robbie H!

We originally thought it would be fun to leave for the Pacific on my birthday because it is a Friday (violating superstition) but it was a bit too early for departure. On a side note, we had also really hoped for a Friday the 13th for either our Southbound departure or the Pacific departure but no dice yet.

Instead, I was able to celebrate my birthday in La Paz, surprise party style thanks to Carol, with SVs Eagle, Pyxis and Celestial and Marcelle. Note: All group shots courtesy of Tom on SV Eagle.

There were beers. More beers and Italian food. A serenade at the bar and to end things off, most excellent ice cream.

Everyone brought sweet gifts but I had to highlight the life preserver that I was given by Eva and James on Pyxis. Not only is it an actual Type IV flotation device, decorated with zebra print, it had a number of excellent abandon ship items sewn to and the lat/long of a number of important ports written on the side. Which abandon ship item is your favorite?

Thank you everyone for making another birthday on the road a special day!

Better late than never, eh?

Carnaval in La Paz was a family friendly affair. A few nekkid butt cheeks aside, it was mostly a parade for the entire family, as evidenced by the large number of grandparents and children in evidence.

The floats were inventive. The mood was festive. And there were these fantastic blown out eggs with confetti that one could crack on one’s spouse’s head.

We had been warned not to stand on the street (*sigh*) during the parade but we still can’t figure out why. It was tame. Fun, but tame.

We went one night with SVs Pyxis and Calypso. On the night of the first parade we went with our “fancy camera” and took pictures and then on the night of the last parade we took Carol’s Mom with us and our smaller camera.

I took a lot of photos and I uploaded a few to this album. Enjoy!

Following (vaguely) our hurricane like naming system, this year’s snowman is Downtown Seattle. The first snowman we didn’t make, we both saw this snowball light sculpture at the Space Needle and chose it. Previous years snowmen here.