MOLLY’S JOURNAL (Oct. 24 to Nov. 16)
We are now in San Diego, readying ourselves for the Baja Ha-Ha. We are installing the freezer, saying hi to friends, and getting our fishing licenses for Mexico. We went out to breakfast with Bill and Susan Wall, and they gave Jessie and me a lot of cool books. Then they took us on a little tour of San Diego while Mom and Dad worked on the boat. First, we went to Ocean Beach, and Jessie and I chased the waves. After that we went to a fun little shop that was owned by Susan’s friend. One of the things sold there were cute wooden ducks, each having a name tag. Susan arranged for us to get haircuts, which was really nice of her!
We had some time before the appointment, so they took us to see the USS Midway, a giant aircraft carrier that was turned in to a museum. Bill is a pilot, with many years of experience, so he showed us around the huge ship. The crew’s quarters are really cramped, and the bunks are tiny. On the hangar deck, we saw some cool fighter jets. There was a simulator for a Wildcat airplane, and we got to go into it. Bill was steering, and he did barrel rolls and flips! It was fun to go upside down! After our simulated adventure, we went up to the flight deck where the planes and helicopters land and take off from the carrier. We went inside a big helicopter, and there were an amazing amount of gauges, knobs, and levers. It must be really hard to drive one of those. Bill showed us all the types of planes he had flown that were on the ship, including this one that looks like a shark.
After seeing the aircraft carrier, we went to a salon called Vanilla to get haircuts. It is owned by a lady named Gina, and I thought it was cool that she had the same name as Mom, even though it is spelled differently. She was really nice, and so was another lady there who sold jewelry. It was great to get my hair trimmed. We had lunch, and went to meet Mom and Dad at a dive shop. When we got there, Jessie and I were whisked away to try on scuba gear. The next thing we knew, Jessie and I were filling out forms and Mom was explaining to us that we were going to get our open water dives to finish our scuba certification. Over the next 2 days, we took four dives in the ocean at La Jolla, about 20 minutes north of San Diego. Our instructor, Colby, was great, and we saw a lot of amazing sea life! Take a peek at Jessie’s page for the scoop on what went on below the surface.
I came into contact with yet another bird by while we were resting between dives. It was an immature seagull. He had been hanging around for a while, so we started feeding him. He ate a piece of cheese from my hand, and seemed to love it. We nick-named him Cheese, since that was his favorite food. He started to peck at our dive gear, and we tried to shoo him away, but he just thought we were feeding him. He must have been hungry, because he was pecking at everything, even my toes – and it hurt! When I was hunched over trying to keep my feet safe, “Cheese” flapped his wings and landed on my back! It was cool that he got so close to me, but I was so startled that I jumped involuntarily and scared him off. I never imagined that I would feed a seagull cheese!
The Baja Ha-Ha was definitely named that for a reason. We have been having loads of fun and made 4 new friends at our stop in Turtle Bay: Ayla, Robin, Danielle and Darby. Ayla and Robin came by our boat in Ayla’s kayak, asking, “Do you have kids on board?” Danielle and Darby are sisters, age 11 and 10, and are really fun to hang out with.
We finally swam in the ocean in Mexico! When I jumped off the boat for the first time, the water felt sooo good, and now we seem to be always in the water. In Bahia Santa Maria, we went to the beach with Danielle and Darby, and had a great time. I even saw some sort of stingray. Our crew members, Dan and Chris, were paddling our kayaks around, and Dan decided to ride back to the boat in the dinghy with us. We tied the kayak behind the dinghy, and when we shoved off from the beach, two huge waves came at us. I don’t know about Dad and Dan, but Jessie, Danielle, Darby, and I all held on for dear life! Going over both waves, we went nearly vertical, and I almost flew out of the dinghy! It was scary, but I’m thankful no one got hurt, and that we didn’t flip the dinghy over. Later that afternoon, Danielle and Darby and their parents came over in their dinghy and asked if we wanted to go for a hike in the hills above the beach. Jessie was tired, but I went. We found some huge tide pools, and in one of them we found a curiously tiny brown fish. It was cute, and looked like a bit of leaf floating in the pool. It was a little bigger than my thumbnail. We played with him for a long time, picking him up with a shell and moving him to different pools, watching him swim and explore. I found 4 pretty Cowry shells, and when we returned to the boat, I traded one of them for a pretty shell Chris had found. We didn’t have any trouble getting the dinghy off the beach that time.
The next morning, we got up early and set off on the last leg of the Ha-Ha, from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas. We had school, and baked delicious banana muffins for home-ec. We nearly caught two huge Dorado, but they both got off the hook. I wonder what’s for dinner…
I got up at midnight and helped with a watch last night. The moon was really bright, and we saw a planet that flashed red, blue, green and yellow. I also picked out the Orion constellation. We sailed across the finish line at about 5:00 P.M., after a long day of not catching fish, and went out to dinner as soon as we tied up in our slip. The next day, I went swimming with Ayla and Abby, another girl that was on the Ha-Ha. We went to a tiny beach around the corner from the marina. The water was at least as warm as a swimming pool, and it felt good to cool off in the waves. We met Danielle and Darby at Senor Sweets, a little dessert shop in town. We had some yummy gelato, and then swam again at the hotel pool nearby. After dinner that night, Danielle and Darby slept over on our boat. We watched the movie “Duma”, and we all slept out in the cockpit. We had a lot of fun!
We won first place in our division in the Ha-Ha, and we left Cabo the day after the awards ceremony. We traveled to La Paz, and made two stops on the way. We went snorkeling in both bays that we spent the night in, and saw lots of colorful fish, including the Cortez Wrasse and the Guineafowl Puffer. I haven’t really seen La Paz yet, but it looks pretty nice. The water temperature is 90 degrees, and I saw a nice beach….