back in La PAz

Feb. 10^th, 2012 cadeleria to la paz

This morning, i awoke at just before eight, and it was calm. I listened to the cruisers net out of la paz, which comes on every morning at eight, and they said winds would be building throughout the day, and Saturday would be worse, and Sunday, basically, would be hell. With Lots of wind and waves up to eleven feet. I could see looking out of the bay it was calm, so I hurried and left.

I didn’t get but five miles, before my engine started overheating. I turned off the engine and put up my sails. In calm, barely moving wind. I was making three knots, but at least I was going in the right direction. Plus I only had twenty two miles to go. Between the end of island espiritu santo and the mainland, I became becalmed. No wind, just drifting. I went below and looked at the engine. It was hot to the touch. I checked the oil. Fine. Checked the water pressure, fine. I opened the raw water filter, and it was plugged.  I cleaned it out and started the engine. Five minutes later, it was overheating again.

So I drifted for two hours with no wind. I kept thinking the weather report showed high winds, should be starting anytime now.

Finally a puff of wind. I got my steerage back and pointed to La Paz. As I got closer, the wind picked up. I was now doing two knots. Then three.

About two miles out of the channel to la paz, it kicked in, I was doing six knots. Outstanding.

By the time I got to the anchorage I was back down to three. But I had made it. I turned on the engine just long enough to sink the hook. Im back and it only took nine and a half hours for me to go twenty two miles. It was a day of having patience. At least I made it before the sun went down, but barely.

Feb. 11^th, 2012 La Paz

I had a hard time sleeping last night. I usually don’t sleep well the first night at anchor. I’m always afraid I’m not holding well. And La Paz has a very strong current that runs through this area, and you move a lot throughout the day. At midnight I looked out and I was ten feet from another boat that was already here when I came in. When I anchored he was 200 feet in front of me, and if everyone is anchored with the same amount of scope, or chain out, we should all move the same as the wind moves the boats, in other words, he should have still been in front of me by 200 feet, but he wasn’t, which meant I was not holding, or he did not have out the same amount of line as I did. So I pulled in ten feet of line, just to make sure we did no0t touch, and I tried to go back to sleep. At three am, I had drifted about forty feet from him and I felt easier. I was still not sure if I was holding, but I was away from everyone, and I had moved in another direction then the wind was blowing, so I felt pretty good that I was holding.

When I got up at eight, I was 200 feet away again and felt great about things. I needed to provision today and get water. This is an all day project. I take my two big 7.5 gal water jugs, and tie them to the kayak. Then paddle the half mile to the marina and fill the jugs, then paddle back. It takes three trips for me to feel like I have enough for the week. That’s forty five gallons.

Then I went to the store. That is a half a mile walk to the bus stop, then a twenty minute ride to the store, then shopping and bus back.

You might be wondering why I’m not using my new inflatable dinghy and outboard. It’s because carnaval is next week, and we have heard that carnaval brings in some bad element. We have been instructed not to park at the town dock, which is fifty yards away, because out dinghies will be gone in less than an hour. I have also been told that some will swim out to the boat and take what they can find if it’s not locked away. The dinghy is too big for me to keep on top of the boat, so I’m waiting till after carnaval to get it out. I don’t want it stolen the first week I use it.

Ohhh and the weather? The club cuisaros web site was hacked, and the wrong weather forecast was put on their sight. The real weather is light winds through the first of next week. Nothing above five knots, and smooth seas.

Feb. 12^th, 2012

I woke up in the middle of the night again, to find myself only ten feet away again from that boat. Crap! So I pulled in another ten feet and sat and watched for an hour to make sure we were not getting any closer. We never did.  I went back to bed and woke up at eight and was again, 100 feet away from his boat. So I got the kayak down and hooked up my stern anchor and went out about fifty feet and dropped that in the water. Now it doesn’t matter how the wind blows or the current flows, I won’t move. I’m far enough away from all the other boats anchored that I won’t be a problem to any of them either. So I think I’ll sleep much better tonight.

Today I invited Russ from “kashmere” over for dinner, he is from Canada and has been down here alone for some time. He has told me his usual dinner is top ramin, so I thought he would appreciate a god meal. I had bought some short ribs yesterday at the store, so I thought I would cook those up.

Then Ed and Terry from “sea moore” wanted me to walk with them to DQ for a blizzard. I said yes of course. So we walked the three miles to DQ and had a blizzard. Very nice. I got back in time to make dinner. I braised the short ribs in white wine for four hours on slow heat. Then made a sauce out of raspberries and chipotle. I made mashed potatoes and we had grilled romaine salad on the side.

He got here at around five and we ate up top since it was such a nice day. Colleen from “sea moore” stopped by, and I fed her too. It turned into a great evening of talking, laughing, and watching the sun set.

One thing I did notice today, while all of us gringos are in shorts and t-shirts, the locals are all still in coats and sweaters. It 85 degrees and they still think it’s cold. The summers must be brutal here.

the anchorage in the background, and just one of many statue along the malicone