Hey there Elixir!
My husband responded to your other post (he's svTOTEM)-- we are a
family of 5, on our Stevens 47 sailboat in Mexico. We'll be crossing to the
Marquesas from La Cruz (near Puerto Vallarta) in April 2010. We look forward to meeting you here!
I've been keeping track of the "kid boats" planning to cross to the south pac this coming season- including yours, I'm up to 15 boats. I think that's pretty dang respectable, and surely not representative of the whole crowd.
We were in MX last year, too- in addition to meeting more then enough other
kids to leave our
children feeling anything
but deprived of socialization, we got to know several other families who crossed this past spring. Some have buddied up with other kid boats through
French Polynesia, but not all. I think it's personal choice and not necessary.
Our children are a little older than yours, but we've had them on boats since they were babies so maybe we can help with cruising parent Q&A, feel free to
email directly (I think you can do that through the profile).
Someone mentioned
SSB... that's the key to getting/staying in touch... there are
radio nets for checking in and staying in touch throughout the MX-FP crossing. I think they are key for
safety too, to have good
weather data... sure hope you have one on board or in your
shopping list. Having a
pactor modem to use with it (or another solution for email) doesn't hurt either.
Good luck with your plans- this is an amazing thing to do as a family- don't let the naysayers get you down (thinking of a certain response to your other post, which was so appalling I can't even get into it)