La Paz Spring 1998

La Paz Spring 1998

After Carnival in February we took the bus to Tijuana and spent the next two months traveling around the eight western states visiting friends and relatives. We acquired a small, old, Honda from our oldest daughter in trade for our newer Subaru. She and her husband Chris left for Germany with the car while we were in the states.

We spent some time in The Dalles getting Uncle Sam his paperwork and helping youngest daughter and husband with some projects at their first own home.

We had a white Easter in Montana as the rain changed to snow while we were at church and it continued to snow the rest of the day. It was then time to start the long drive back south. We had snow on the hills until we were out of Utah and into Arizona. There were a few more days of work in Southern California but we made it to Ensenada in time for the annual Newport to Ensenada sailboat race and had a enjoyable two days there with friends PJ and Loretta.

Tuesday evening, April 28, we arrived back to our Lanikai in La Paz. The drive through the desert, especially the Magdalina Plains where much more barren than I remembered, but then the last trip was made almost 30 years over dirt roads at 10 mph and it was much easier to see the cacti and not the space between. The night on the road was spent in Guerrero Negro. The town was much larger than past trips and it was almost impossible to find the older sections of town. We also made a stop at Puerto Escondido and tried out our new hand held radio. We gave Red Sky a call but it looks like they had moved on.

April 30

Today we got the new engine battery, that we brought from the states, installed. That took most of the day with us crawling around in tight places in the bilge. Yesterday it took most of the day just to unload the car and stow things into the boat, and washing off the two months accumulation of dirt from the outside. Restarting and checking out the many systems also occupied us for awhile. The weather here is beautiful if you like it warm, and we do, but it does require an afternoon siesta. Most of the boats that were here when we left in February have already moved up into the sea and we hope to be following within the next two weeks.

May 1, 1998

Yesterday Bill spent the morning catching up on paperwork, i.e. typing in all the visa receipts and balancing the accounts. I spend most of the day sewing the mosquito netting for the cockpit and almost finished. It attaches to the soft cockpit cover, has chain in a bottom hem for weight, and completely encircles the cockpit. Bill then got the remote for the autopilot installed on the steering pedestal. It was another hot beautiful day and we enjoyed dinner in the cockpit.

Today the diver came and cleaned off the bottom of the hull. The new paint was holding up good as we only had tiny barnacles beginning on the paint but the prop was a mess with many large barnacles and other grunge. The diver also replaced the zinc which turned out to still have several months on it. Bill got the outboard motor running (with its new carburetor) while I finished sewing the cockpit screening then we took off for a walk into town.

Today was the start of the Dos Mares 500 off road race and we watched the start of the dunebuggies and trucks. They started one at a time through a arch set up on the Malecon and raced through town to an unpaved route around the southern end of the peninsula.

Monday, May 4

Yesterday we got the rest of the engines running and serviced for the next leg of our travels. The biocide that we have added to the fuel seems to be working as the fuel was clean even though there was a little water in the tanks. We are hoping to head out to the islands next weekend on our way north up into the sea. There are several other boats that are on there way "up into the sea". Today we finally captured our e-mail and had messages from family and friends then we loaded up the boat with food staples for the trip to Puerto Escondido and until Bill can return to La Paz for the car. We went to the swimming pool here, in the late afternoon and sure it sure cooled us down fast!

May 5

More chores today but we only have a few more items to take care of before we can leave. We again cooled off in the late afternoon with a dip in the pool.

May 6, Wednesday

Jerry and Dee from Traveler took us to Todos Santos for the day. We explored the tourist shops and spend an enjoyable hour or so in the museum there. The museum contained old and recent photos as well as many artifacts found in Baja Sur from the early Spanish times. We had a super lunch of fish in town before heading back to La Paz and a nap. In the evening we attended the free concert on the Malecon. These concerts have been presented every evening this week. Tonight was folk dancing and it was wonderful. It ended about 10 and we returned to Lanikai for our usual late dinner. This week has been a combination celebration of Labor Day (May 1), La Paz Foundation Day (May 3) and Cinco de Mayo. La Paz is 463 old!

May 8, Friday

Today was a rather exciting day. Bill took off to check-out with the Port Captain and check our e-mail while I did laundry and made good use of the freshwater hose to wash things down and fill the tanks. Bill got us all checked out but could not get into GorgeNet to get the mail. He then was driving to the bus station to check on the schedule for his return trip to pick up the car. The front stearing knuckle broke on the car and then the axle broke leaving him stranded in the middle of an intersection. A very nice American who has been living here for years stopped to help him out. She took him to her mechanic who would tow the car to his shop and check it out this afternoon. Bill was to return at 5PM to see what he had discovered. Then she drove him all the way back to the marina. We sure have run into the nicest people down here and most people are not in such a hurry that they do not have time to help out.

Our friends on Shanti drove us around town to finish up our before-departure errands and Bill even managed to send and receive the Email finally. We returned to the car repair shop and the mechanic planned on having the car repaired in two weeks. He first had to look around to find the needed used parts.

We returned to the marina for a swim and a lovely dinner with Bill and Margie from Shanti at one of the restaurants here in the marina. Tomorrow we will head out on our way north to Puerto Escondido.

Saturday May 9

By 9:30AM we were on the fuel dock taking on fuel, all of 110 liters and at 10 we were heading out the La Paz channel. We had a beautiful none-to-light wind kind of day and motor sailed with a occasional push from the reefed main that we had pulled up as soon as we cleared the channel.

We had the anchor down off the fish camp in Caleta Partida by 3PM. It is a beautiful bay with turquoise water but the afternoon wind had come up and cooled things down enough that we did not feel the need to swim. We read and napped instead, recovering from the very active week that we have had since returning from the states.

Sunday May 10

After a good night’s sleep we had a great day of playing. It was great to be able to hear the local ham net so the first action of the morning was to say "hi" to the Sonrisa net. We then got the dingy overboard and went to the end of the bay where we beached it and walked across the low salt flats to the east side of the island. Actually we are anchored in a bay between two islands. The eastern end of the bay has a narrow shallow channel through the salt flat separating the two islands. After the short hike and a slow spin around the bay we returned to Lanikai and tried out our new snorkeling equipment. It was great fun swimming lazily around the boat checking out its bottom. The diver that cleaned it in La Paz had done a great job. We had a small lunch and a nap while we ran the water maker. It was then time to climbed into the dingy and find our friends on Dunemis who showed us a great snorkel spot. We spent over an hour there lazily floating and watching the schools of brightly colored fish swimming the rocks and the round balls of coral that were growing there. By then we were getting cold so it was time to return to Lanikai for some food and rest.

Monday May 11

Clouds came in late in the afternoon yesterday and the southerly wind picked up in the night. The wind also brought rollers in the entrance to the bay. We were up several times in the night to check on things and tie off flappy halyards. The wind continued into the morning and Bill and I both spent the time reading. Things calmed down by mid afternoon so we took the dingy out to the entrance reefs to see what kind of fish lurked there. We saw the same brightly colored little fish as yesterday but since the water was deeper there were several larger fish as well. The sandstone cliffs above the reef were also interesting with their many holes which the birds were making good use of. There also were several areas where cacti clung to the shelves as in a small garden planter.

Tuesday May 12

The evening southerly winds continued to blow into the early afternoon so we took the opportunity to look at our many cruising guides. After the wind died and the waves laid down some we tossed the dingy overboard and went off visiting some of our many neighbors. This anchorage is beginning to seem crowded after the last few days with 5 or less boats here each day, we now have 12. About half of the people we visited are heading up into the sea for the summer; the rest are heading up the outside and back to the states in the next few months. The normal afternoon east wind picked up before we got back to Lanikai, but we went for a swim anyhow and I even washed my hair. I got a few mouthfuls of water from the wind blown waves but it was still warm enough that the wind did not cool us down too much.

An interesting point of note is that the 3 solar panels that we installed before we left Chula Vista more than keep up with our current battery use including the freezer! We do have good sunshine for long hours now.

Wednesday May 13

We had a wild night with the Coromuel winds gusting through the anchorage up to 30mph. Weather reports form other boaters on the Sonrisa net confirmed that the winds were widespread over this area but not as strong out in the main channels.

About 9:30 we upped the anchor and motor sailed in light wind but sloppy seas to Isla San Francisco where we dropped the hook in sand in the little bite on its southern side. On the way we circled around the Sea Lion Rocks off the north end of Isla Partida.

We anchored for the night in a beautiful moon shaped bay on the south end of Isla San Francisco. The bay has white sand beaches all around its head with a nice rocky reef to the south and cliffs to the north. We spend the rest of the day just enjoying the peace and sun and reading on deck.

Friday May 15

We are still anchored at Isla San Francisco. After one relatively quiet night here the wind picked up late yesterday afternoon from the north and blew all night but this harbor has good protection from that direction, so we slept well anyhow. Yesterday we went for a nice hike on the island and even found a few new shells for Emily’s collection. We also spent time visiting with new friends on Califia, and even enjoyed the evening nibblies with them, that turned into a full dinner due to Glenna’s efforts.

Saturday 16 May

We took off late yesterday afternoon and are now anchored in the nice little cove south of Punta San Evaristo. The wind blew most of yesterday and finally slowed down in the early afternoon. Since the hop to Evaristo was only 9 miles we decided to make a go for it. There were still "noserly" winds in the channel and the seas were lumpy but we had a nice motor sail across.

It was cloudy and cooler today. The wind came and went several times throughout the day so we took the opportunity to just read in the cockpit behind the windbreak formed by the dodger. There are about 7 boats anchored with us here in the bay and a nice little community on shore.

Sunday May 17

Today the sun came up bright orange red and formed a red reflection on the glassy water. There has been talk the last few days about low visibility and haze due to fires in southern Mexico and I expect that smoke in the upper atmosphere is the cause of the sun’s red appearance. The weather was humid and cloudy bright with little wind until late in the afternoon. We took the opportunity to go to shore and walk across the little rise to see the salt evaporation ponds and get a higher up view of the bay. We returned hot and ready for a swim so we piled the snorkel gear into the dingy and swam around one of the rock cliffs to the north that has a nice reef at its base. There was a great variety of fish to see.

Monday 18 May

It was another warm cloudy bright day with little wind. We spent much of the afternoon in the water. We snorkeled on the south point reef and saw many interesting corals in addition to the brightly colored small fish. In the sandy areas there were many waiting rays. They were mostly buried in the sand exposing only a small part of their backs. Of course some time was spent just visiting with other boaters here in the bay.

Tuesday 19 May

We awoke to a warm, humid no wind kind of day with the same thin clouds covering the sky that have been with us the last three days. We decided that today would be a good day to head further north. The GPS again refused to lock on to the satellites so we took off without using it. We had just gotten used to the charting program keeping track of where we were but it was back to the paper charts for the first part of the journey. The GPS mysteriously started working about half way into the trip. We then decided that the light winds that we had from the south east were just right to try out the new cruising spinnaker. We pulled it up and it pulled us along at 6.5 knots with only 12 mph of wind. When the wind died to 6 we could still maintain 3 knots with the spinnaker alone but when the wind dropped more our speed went to barely stearable. We drifted awhile at 2 to 3 knots before we finally gave up and bagged the sail returning to the "D-sail". We dropped the hook in the mid afternoon in the very peaceful cove of Puerto Los Gatos. The rock formations around are many colored from reds to oranges and yellows to green. Very pretty. The water showed no colors other than the reflected gray sky. We had a refreshing swim before settling in for a peaceful late afternoon of reading in the cockpit.

Wednesday May 20

After a chat with Jack (Red Sky) and Mike (Salty Dog) on the Sonrisa net, Bill and I got the dingy overboard and putted off to the beach. We walked along the sand in both directions and ended up at the base of red cliffs marking the south east corner of the bay. We climbed up to the point on top and had a great view of the bay. Since there was a steep drop off to the eastern side it was also a great view down into the reef there. The sandstone cliff was smoothed and rounded at its lower levels and the upper parts were eaten out to form castle like formations. Very pretty!! We returned to Lanikai and put on our snorkel gear then swam back to the base of the cliff for some underwater exploring. The interesting rock formations continued below the water and there were some pretty little fish but few coral heads and not near the animal life that we had seen on previous reefs.

In the afternoon Manuel brought us the promised fish (a 3 kilo Pargo) and with much effort Bill got us some nice filets for the barbecue.

Friday 22 May

Yesterday we stayed in Los Gatos. It was a day for just relaxing and catching up on a few small projects. In the late afternoon we congregated on the beach with some of the other boats anchored there, for a potluck supper. It was fantastic with much good food and good variety. The evening culminated with a beach bonfire to burn the trash from the various boats. A super good evening!!!

This morning we upped the anchor and headed off to Agua Verde. We had very very light-to-no wind on the way but the sun did manage to peak through the clouds for a short time. It was the first sunshine that we have seen since Isla San Francisco. We passed through a pod of dolphins as we headed north and two of them took a pause in their fishing to ride our bow wake for a few minutes. Although I trailed the "meat hook" the entire passage, no fish chose to bite.

It took us three tries to get the boat anchored in a spot that we felt comfortable. The favorite little area for anchoring was quite full of boats already. Bill found a hole between two boats but the water was much deeper than Charlie’s Charts indicated, unless you anchored right near to shore. We moved to just outside this little cove and found a great spot although more open to north east winds and waves.

Saturday 23 May

We had a great night last night. The weather stayed calm and in the early evening we were treated to several schools of jumping baitfish that attracted first the fishing pelicans and later on the fishing dolphins. The pelicans are funny birds that fish by skimming over the water until they find a likely target and then power dive at it with their fish-catcher beak open. They then sit on the water and swallow their catch. The dolphins were fishing after dark and they left a pretty glow in the water as they swam to and fro chasing down their dinner.

We took the dingy for a long spin around the bay and out to Roca Solitaria checking out the reefs as we went. Lots of beautiful fish to be seen and we even saw a small bright blue dorado swim under the dingy.

Sunday May 24

Last night as we were sitting in the cockpit a panga with two fisherman passed and we waved. They came alongside and needed some light weight fishing line. I jumped below and found a roll of 15 lb line that I am not using. They were delighted and, when we would not take anything for the line, Antonio invited us to his house this morning for hot tortillas. Bill and I just returned from there with about a half kilo of fresh hot tortillas that his wife had made. The town here has about 45 houses and has had piped in water for eight years. His house, although small was very nice and comfortable and they had a nice large yard with many fruit trees and flowering shrubs. With my limited Spanish I visited with his wife, Cecilia, while she made the tortillas. It was very enjoyable.

We made a late morning climb of another hilltop. This time it was the one to the north of our anchorage. It took some doing to find a way up and some wandering through the tide pool shelf at low tide but the view when we got up on top was again spectacular. Today was another cloudy day so the water was still colored gray green but the shallows were visible as a lighter hue.

Late afternoon and into the evening we had a nice visit with Mel and Thelma Langley on "T‘n’Honey" along with the couple from "Wind Dancer". Since both the other boats are heading back to La Paz from Puerto Escondido we got the latest scoop on what is what up there.

Tomorrow we are off to Puerto Escondido, which will be our base for about a month while we recover our car from La Paz and await the visit of Bill’s brother Rick.