Feliz Navidad from San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Feliz Navidad!

We are writing from San Carlos, Mexico after a fabulous Christmas Eve meal we grilled up here in the courtyard of our hotel with John & Dorothy Kiesling followed by a short drive to the waterfront to watch the Christmas Eve parade of boats.  San Carlos is a small sailing / tourist town just north of the larger town of Guyamas.  Guyamas has the population and industry to attract Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club, Auto Zone and Parker Fittings (hydrolic components) has a large plant here.  It’s quite a contrast between the two towns only 15 minutes apart.

Most of you know we are beginning a few months of cruising in the Sea of Cortez on our new boat “Begone”.   We are grateful for our friends John and Dorothy Kiesling (Begone’s previous caretakers) who are here with us to show us the boat, share their experience from their past 4 sailing seasons here on Begone, and really help with getting her from dry storage to sail-ready. 

We arrived in San Carlos on December 20^th to 72 degree weather with light breeze.  Of course we heard that the Bay Area was getting slammed with rain (so sorry).  We worked on our LIST of things to do thinking we would be in the work area for maybe 7-8 days before splashing and heading out.  Turns out the tides will not let them launch the boat until January 3^rd (14 days) so Tom immediately called for a relaxed schedule – 3 tasks a day then manana -- it’s beer-thirty!  So today’s tasks were – install the bimini, bake brownies for the Christmas Dinner at the San Carlos Yacht Club, and the third was hummmm, I guess maybe hang the binoculars?  Oh, and he wanted to do a little Christmas shopping in Guaymas.  Is this really Tom???

We wish each of you a very Merry Christmas.  We really feel the absence of family, friends and community - while truly enjoying the people and pace of this new adventure.  We hope each of you are enjoying a terrific holiday season.
Love, Suzanne & Tom

Begone "on the hard" with John Kiesling, Tom and Suzanne