2/28/2011 - Whale Watching and New Friends

In the midst of busily preparing for our trip across the pond, we managed to take some time out and go for a nice sail around the bay on Sunday and do a little whale watching.  When we were in Yelapa we met a nice French Canadian couple with two kids and they had never been sailing on a Catamaran.  They are doing a bit of traveling of their own and made their way to LaCruz this past week so we asked them if they wanted to bring the kids and head out for the day.

They have a really neat story.  They’re from Quebec and have been traveling in Mexico for about two months.  They have varied backgrounds but the purpose of their travel (aside from getting reacquainted with their adorable family) is to make a pilot for a TV series about family travel.  They take their cameras with them everywhere and film their kids as they interact with the local folks, learning their culture, history and just making new friends.  They’re having such a great time and making such good headway on their project that they’ve decided to stay in Mexico a bit longer and finish their pilot.  You can check out their website at www.yudeetlola.com (but you need to brush up on your French J ).

Lola driving the boat.  She didn't want my help at all.

We had a great day on the bay.  The weather was questionable so we went out with low expectations, but as soon as we got out of the channel we saw a mama humpback and her baby.  We spent about 20 minutes just drifting and watching the whales.  Then the wind picked up so we were able to have a nice lazy sail for most of the afternoon.  The kids had a great time.  The youngest, Lola, took right to it and even helped me steer the boat.  Yude and Jake just enjoyed each other’s company playing legos and Hero Factory, occasionally coming outside to see what all the hubbub was about.

Yude

Sailing is really exhausting!

Lola, after seeing a whale!

We’re not the most outgoing people in the world so we’re not the best at meeting strangers.  In this case, I’m glad Patrice and Maria were there to make the first move.  This is a truly beautiful family and I hope we find some way to keep in touch and keep up on their travels and movie and become better friends.

I didn't get as many good pictures as I thought.  Patrice and Maria took some additional pictures with their camera (the professional one, as opposed to my happy snap)…hopefully I can get a few of them in the next few days and add them here.