La Paz - aqui estamos!

On to La Paz - and beyond!

Party time!

 

 

Still en route, we made a stop in San Evaristo and Cipriana, a local  mom,  made us a delightful fish dinner at her palapa restaurant; we met s/v Noreue, Donna and Jim, and enjoyed an evening of his Buffett-style guitar and singing aboard our ship.  What a treat!

 

 

 

Been practicing my ukulele a bit but dpon't expect any concerts soon....


 

 

A lovely sunrise in San Evaristo before we headed south to La Paz.

 

 

Wonder how we do ice?  Here is my ice maker.  Works well,

I keep two tubs going and rotate and we end up with big, long-lasting cubes, well, chunks.

 Heading out of Puerto Escondido and a few more stops before La Paz....

 

 

La Paz - finally! - Just in time for several Valentine Parties!

Here we have sailor Linda and Bill in our sweetheart shirts and Dixie cup hats.  That hat lasted about 3 nano-seconds on Bill's USMC head....

 

 

And at the Tailhunter for a welcome brew!

 

Now for some shopping....aren't these the cutest little girls dresses we found at the Bravo Market?

 

 

JUCE' Bruce and Judy (The Devil Boat*) introduced us and treated us to a special dinner at Buffalitos....now that is a filet done rare and it was wonderful! Thanks guys!

 

Now for an after-dark dock party - er - safety meeting. 

No dock parties allowed. But included live music!

 

Shopping in town and stopped at a small new park and rest spot - very nice!

Ladies Lunch at the Country Club with Deb, Rhonda, Gig, Sherry and me.

Local pangueros taking a group out to whale watch off the Malecon in town.

 

Now it is Carnaval time! 

We walked to town a few times, caught the parade and had a few brews and junk food.

 

The theme for this year's parade was Aliens...plenty of little green men, Martians and weird little Gringo people walking about.....there is Andy and Deb with me as well as Graeme and Sherry.

 

 

 

Food and rides and games galore. This is a double-decker trampoline - OSHA beware!

From sweet treats to liquor, blankets, cookware...all for sale.

 

 

Parades right on the water, with a breeze and loud music...salsa-dancing Aliens!

 

including....The Jetson's?

 

Several new craft breweries in town...to include this one -

 Harker Boards - and their special Escorpion brew....YES!

 

Chef School....Bill?

Yes we went; nine of us to create this wonderful meal.  We started at 2 and ate

about 7-8 and enjoyed pork roasted in banana leaves, paella,

several ceviches, meatballs (Bill's team),

shish-ka-bobs, fruit and Tres Leches cake (my team).  Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outings with friends.....

JUCE presented a select few with Devil Boat** shirts after a night of rum on their boat but of course, retaliation included a JUCE boat decorating (crime tape and signs) but we will never tell who did it.....

 

 

The Devil Boat gang:

That's about it, La Paz.

 

The Canadians are heading north again and soon will we.

A few more events, Bay Fest and some dinners out, a little more walking...

More to follow!

 

 

From San Carlos to La Paz

We departed San Carlos January 23rd and spent several weeks en route, arriving February 5th.  The trip was pretty uneventful for a change - we actually did a bit of no-motor sailing.  Imagine that - on a sailboat! The winds were fairly tame - although we did see 40 knot gusts while in San Evaristo at anchor there for a few days! But it was a cloudy/overcast trip for the most part.

We skipped the northern stops and went directly from San Carlos/Marina San Carlos to Isla Coronado on the Baja, near Loreto, arriving about 22 hours later.  A beautiful anchorage, we arrived at sunrise to some clouds and a double rainbow!!

Our depth meter panel shows our average speed this trip 6-7 knots. Bill is charting his engine log on the ladder.

 .....see we did have sails up!

 Morning sun rose as we neared Isla Coronado:

 The cockpit seats we love. Makes for a comfy ride.

 A stop at Puerto Escondido was very brief -  here we are at anchor in the bay, as seen from a boat work yard there and the lift crane they have.  We came into the marina via dinghy for dinner and check-in, fuel and a few groceries.  Bill hauls fuel cans via dinghy and carries the 5 gallon jugs (4 this time) in by hand and back. They still charged him an extra 14% " fuel dock" fee/tax even though he did NOT go to the fuel dock with our boat.  Go figure.  This marina is trying to be sold and has been in turmoil for several years.  The only saving grace there is occasional fuel and Pedro's Portobello restaurant and store. They do not answer their radio, or have hot water or dryers that work - or toilet paper.  Of course, never have they had shower curtains, either. So we still pay about $18 a day to drop an anchor in a bay....when one can find anyone in the office - which is now being run by a gal who several years ago was in charge of cleaning the bathrooms.  The locals (mostly Gringos) are allowed to use the laundry facilities a (for free) and one lady had the audacity to interrupt our "check-in" (the staff were over an hour late arriving as it was) and complain about the dryers not heating (well, the marina can't pay the gas bill, so why would the dryers work?)

We are in hopes that the plant and gravel project that was going on to impress a potential buyer due in that week, worked. The balls are more than half gone and we sure would not trust them to hold us.  Hardly anyone stops here anymore and the cruiser's Hidden Port Yacht Club has moved back into an old dumpy building and basically run by the Gringos on dirt at  (mostly  from Juncalito, a plywood and palapa squatters residence nearby). Loreto Fest is in the planning but doubt too many cruisers attend anymore.  So new owners, take heed and improve!

 

Following PE, we stopped at Los Gatos and San Evaristo as well as San Francisco and Espiritu Santo in Ensenada Grande. We met some new cruisers en route and hope to meet up with them again - yet looking forward to seeing old friends in La Paz. 

 

We arrived La Paz February 5th - and finally sunshine! - and jumped into the social life with all four feet, all hands on deck and no brains.  Once I download pictures and quit running all over, details will follow. 

January 2014 - finally!

Tanque de Tiburon Sail Log 2014

 

January 15 – arrived San Carlos – finally!  Edward Bottomley was visiting town for a week so we entertained him at a few of our local haunts – along with seeing some cruiser and local friends – s/v Sea Bourne’s Ron and Beryl, s/v Yemaya’s Bob and Bev and some new folks.  Plus seeing Folker’s a little as they came and went as well.  Joan brought her sister Nancy down, who flew in to AZ from Montana – and we all attended the Ladies’ Luncheon to benefit SPCA, the local dog and cat rescue project. Within the week, we were able to hit Capt’s Club a few times – to include pizza, Soggy Peso for a beer, La Palapa to hear Mark Mulligan play twice, the Edge for a burger, La Esquina for a great pizza and the Paradiso for the luncheon just for the girls.  Obviously, I don’t cook much when we are in a marina.  And we had some Guaymas chores to include new boat batteries x6, some provisioning at Walmart, Telcel for a Mexican phone and the Guaymas marina.

 The Paradiso Bay behind Soggy Peso Bar at Sunset.

 Even beach horses are served at the Soggy Peso!

 At the SPCA (Dog and Cat rescue) Luncheon with 396 of my best friends...and Nancy, Joan (with MAx) ...and me. I look like a giant with these lovely girls!

 Friend Sheila  decorated a table and modeled (see below) along her rescue dog, Maximo Valentino - the dog which I may steal one day when she is not looking.

 

 

January 23 dawned and it was time to go.  We put the car to bed at Tom and Joan’s the night before (thanks you two)  and found new dock friends on s/v Indara who got up at 0700 to send us off and handle a few lines.  It was an easy exit, no trauma or drama! Although we left with .66 feet under the keep….close!  High tide was at 0300, too dark to depart so we snuck at as the tide was dropping and did fine. 

A fairly unremarkable crossing and even had some 100%, no-engine sailing in for a change – about 6 hours in the 24 hour crossing from Marina San Carlos to Isla Coronado.  We kept the sails up and both the main and jib did well, reefed the main at dusk per usual.  It was a fairly flat sea and the wind range was 5-12 knots.  We got a little sleep with sharing watches.  Otto, the auto-pilot worked well except one brief hiccup where he quit under sail and we did a circle before we got back on track – with the motor back on.  But the winds had dropped to 5 knots so our speed had dropped to 3 knots, so time for some man-made power, anyway.  The daylight run was smooth and pleasant, albeit a little cool.  After dark,  it warmed and no jackets needed – just a sweat shirt and socks.  .  Bill was able to catch a U of A basketball game on Sirius radio – so that was HIS watch time while I warmed pea soup for dinner! The moon did not rise until about 0300 so it was pretty dark with a few horizon lights and 1-2 very distant boat lights.  Otherwise, we saw no one “out there”. 

As the sun came up about 0630 on the 24th, we were passing Isla Coronado, heading around to the south to find the protected anchorage.  Normally we go to the west beach “hook” with its pretty white sand beach.  A little “norther” is predicted for a few days so we opted for a safer, calmer anchorage to sit it out a few days.  We hauled in the jib and main and made a direct shot into a deserted anchorage and dropped the hook in about 12’ of water and settled in – looking forward to breakfast, coffee/tea and hot, engine-warmed water for showers. Oh, and a nap. A lazy day being had to relax.  Probably watch some DVD’s tonight.

Bill working on the engine log in the hatchway.

                                                Sails up and clouds at sunset.

 Gorgeous double rainbow at sunrise over Isla Coronado, where we anchored off around to the left.

Cockpit seating for two.  Love these chairs and my beach towel covers make them a bit easier to keep clean and less sweat in the summer!

Had a large group of  dolphins circling the boat at anchor a few minutes ago - mostly lazing but a few auditioning for Sea World.  Musta confused us with the m/v Shamu? Pics later!

Wifi off Loreto, so last chance to catch up on news and family and friends.