SV ‘Stargazer’ Becomes a Fully Fledged Kid Boat
When David and I first sailed Stargazer to Mexico in the 2011 Baja Ha- Ha, it was with a couple of friends. When we returned to the Ha-Ha last year, the crew included our daughters, 13-year-old Emily and 10-year-old Harper, and Stargazer was — and is — a fully fledged kid boat.
What’s a kid boat? It’s a cruising sailboat with kids aboard — and one always on the lookout for other kid boats for social interaction. It’s essential! Luckily, the 2024 Ha-Ha was a huge “kid-boat” year: more than 20 kids on various boats, all sailing southbound.
The kids first met at the rally’s stops in Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria. After the Ha-Ha, the kid boats organically grouped together for further adventures. The majority headed to La Paz, while a few others went directly to Banderas Bay. The La Paz boats, Stargazer among them, joined forces with other existing kid boats for the start of months of fun and shenanigans.
The first “scheduled” activity was Thanksgiving. The ever-growing kid-boat flotilla headed to Caleta Partida, where they launched boatloads of toys including kayaks, SUPs, lily pads, tow-behind inflatable toys and dinghies. You name the water toy, it was there! At one point, all the kids congregated on the 70-ft Halcyon Seas, one of the powerboats that had come down with the Ha-Ha. It was pure excitement to see them swimming laps around the boat, jumping off the fly bridge, and playing with all the water toys.
With too many kids and families to all fit on one boat for a Thanksgiving feast, everyone joined together for a potluck on the beach. It was a Thanksgiving we will all remember.
After the holiday, with the Sea of Cortez water getting cooler and northerly winds becoming more common, boats started migrating south. No formal kid-boat plans had been made at that point, so many boats went their separate ways with future plans unknown.
It wasn’t long before reunions started happening! We had been headed to Banderas Bay, but when iffy weather was forecast for that area, we diverted to Mazatlán — and arrived to find Ha-Ha kid boats Skye and Sea Monkey already there. Another kid boat, Polar Sun, was leaving as we arrived, so we took their spot in the tight inner harbor. We enjoyed Mazatlán together for a few days, then buddy-boated south to Isla Isabela. There, we met back up with Polar Sun, who had scoped out the southern anchorage for us and guided our trio of boats into a great sand patch (one example of the benefits of buddy-boating). After the parade of kids and families had explored this beautiful island, the four of us continued south in company to La Cruz in Banderas Bay.