It’s the day after Thanksgiving here in La Paz, and the summer warmth is still with us – as it should be just a few miles north of the tropics. Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with a couple of other cruising couples, Ed and Cornelia Gould from A Cappella and Rob and Jan from Triple Stars (with their crew, Gil). While every other U.S. citizen here in La Paz seemed to be madly looking for and preparing turkeys, dressing, potatoes and gravy, and cranberry sauce to celebrate Thanksgiving, our little group decided that lobster would be a more fitting feast while we are in a location devoid of live turkeys but full of lobster. The lobster was delicious and we were able to give thanks just as well as with turkey.
When we first arrived in La Paz earlier in the week we thought we contacted a marina near town and were told to wait for a yellow panga (an all-purpose fiberglass boat with large outboard that is used for nearly everything down here – garbage collection, fishing, scuba diving, etc.) to direct us to the marina. When it arrived, it took us in a direction far from town and through a narrow gap in the shoal that borders the La Paz channel. We finally decided that we were being led astray and turned around to retrace our steps. As soon as we turned around, the panga took off without attempting to keep us behind them. We later found that there is a new marina being built across the bay from town, and they pay the panga drivers $10 per boat to direct new cruisers to their out-of-the-way location. Instead we anchored near town and used our dinghy to find a reputable marina to get a dock two days later.
We were wakened that first morning (November 20th) at 7:30 AM with a deafening sound of drumbeats and martial music coming from the edge of town on the quay. During the cruisers’ net at 8 AM that morning, we learned that this day was Revolution Day in La Paz (celebrating the overthrow of a dictatorship in 1910), and there would be a grand parade starting at 8:30 AM. We hustled up and dinghied in to catch the celebration. Luckily the event didn’t celebrate the overthrow of some U.S.-backed government; so we were welcome to enjoy the parade. At 85 degrees outside, we were perspiring (Sheilagh says she was “glowing”) in the hot sun in our shorts and short-sleeve tops, while we watched the marchers dressed in much warmer-looking clothing looking as if the heat didn’t bother them. For example the Special Forces were a tough-looking bunch with long-sleeved turtleneck black shirts and green camouflage trousers tucked into combat boots – and they weren’t even breaking a sweat.
It appeared that every person in town was in the parade – children, teens, young adults, and old adults – marching with schools, soccer teams, baseball teams, boxing clubs, karate clubs, volleyball clubs, military units, and even some bands. The parade lasted for at least three hours, and the town isn’t that big. It’s my contention that as each group finished the parade, they replaced the bystanders on the side; so the bystanders could get dressed up in a uniform of some sort and get into the parade themselves. The saddest sight was a color guard for a band made up of young adult women dressed in full business suits (long sleeves and long skirts) and high heels doing a goose step with swinging arms and clomping feet. One of the women had broken a heel and was doing her best to stay in step with the others. It had to be painful, and how anyone can march in high heels is a mystery to me.
I also noticed that, by the end of the parade, the drummers in the drum and bugle corps were holding their drums carefully against their left legs with one hand as they beat the step with the other hand between songs. I was reminded of my own drum-and-bugle-corps days when we developed large black-and-blue marks on the front of our left thighs during parades from the edge of the drum bouncing on our legs as we marched. By the end of a typical parade we were repositioning the edge of the drum to a less painful location on the leg whenever we didn’t need both hands to beat the march. Nowadays the modern drum-and-bugle-corps drummers have harnesses that keep the drums from beating against the body. But we had a “badge of honor” for the next week or so that was readily visible when we were wearing shorts or swimming suits.
I saw a couple of horses in the parade and was also reminded of the rodeo parades I marched in, where every fourth unit was a sheriff’s posse or a riding club. Part of the trick of marching in those days was to try to keep position across and in line while sidestepping the horse manure that built up. The better bands were in front; so they had less to dodge. We were not one of the better bands, and we marched with white shoes; so we kept less than perfect ranks trying to keep those shoes white as we tiptoed around the horse offerings. Later on clowns were introduced behind the horse units to pick up the manure and make it look like fun to do so. I don’t know what this has to do with cruising, but the point can be made that an absence of horses in a parade in Mexico is a real benefit in my mind.
While we were at anchor in the channel facing La Paz we were introduced to the La Paz Waltz – a dance involving anchored boats that change direction four times a day as the tide changes and causes a 3 knot current to flow past the town – first one way and then the other. The constant change of direction can cause an anchor to work loose; so we were constantly paying attention to our own boat and the other boats swinging around us to insure one of us wasn’t having its anchor dislodged, causing one boat to run into another. Because of this concern and the fact that we hadn’t had a chance to give a fresh-water wash to our salt-laden boat for over three weeks, we got a place in the local Marina de la Paz, and have been experiencing a more conventional live-aboard situation. That means we have been able to really clean the boat and ourselves with someone else’s fresh water. The tiny shower we have on the boat is useful, but not as satisfying as a real shower with room to move around.
Sheilagh and I have been doing a lot of walking around town every day for groceries, pharmacy items, internet cafes, etc. – averaging at least a couple of miles a day – and usually with a pack on our backs to carry the groceries, laptops, and other paraphernalia. We’re also going up and down the companionway multiple times a day and doing other work on the boat that involves lifting, pulling, washing, polishing, and other general activities that never seem to stop. We both feel we are slimming down a bit, since we can fit more easily into some of our clothing, but we have no scales to really measure the weight loss. We drink a lot more water and a lot less Coca Cola than we ever have in the past, and have noticed a healthy decline in our need for fattening snacks.
Today we have a Mexican crew polishing all of our stainless steel on the boat – and that’s a lot of stainless steel – for $50 total. Three of them have been working for about three hours now; so we think we are getting a real deal. I have found that “stainless steel” belies its name – it can be stained and it develops rust spots. So periodically it needs to be cleaned and polished to retain its luster. The Mexican crew is using tooth brushes and a special cleaner to get into every nook and cranny, and it looks very good. Sheilagh and I thought we’d have plenty of time to do jobs like this ourselves, but the cost-benefit tradeoff is just too good to pass up. Besides, we are apparently getting lazier and lazier as we continue our cruise to paradise. That’s it for now.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Bahia de los Muertos (now Sueños) – Jim’s Blog
Sheilagh says it’s about time for me to start entering data on the blog; so I’ll give it a shot. After spending hours on the computer every day of my working life, I have taken a hiatus over the past three weeks and done no computing whatsoever. I may have forgotten how to do this.
After arriving in Cabo San Lucas on the 8th of November we spent a fairly pleasant stay of 6 days. I say fairly, because the place was very crowded, with at least one new cruise ship towering above us in the anchorage every day. There were some 130 sailboats vying for docks or anchoring space as a result of our Baja Ha Ha fleet. We had to choose our spot carefully to drop our anchor; because we needed to make sure we didn’t hit any other boats when the wind changed – as it typically did.
It seems as if everyone in Cabo has a boat (fishing boats, sailboats, glass-bottom boats, wave-runners, parachute-towing boats, dive boats, dinghies, etc.) and everyone uses them at the same time. It was as if flies were buzzing around a new pile of what-flies-prefer, but these “flies” left wakes that constantly bounced our boats. We were also subjected to loud and off-key renditions of Mexican songs late into the night from the hotels along the beach.
What was good about it all? We had some good times with the crew and with other friends we had met. We were anchored in our own home just off the beach, where tourists pay lots of “dinero” to have a view of the beach. The weather is always warm, with cool breezes during both the day and night to keep it warm and not hot. I really like being able to step off the boat into the water to cool off any time I get a little too warm. Then I can get back on and rinse off with hot-and-cold fresh water from a short hose we have installed for the purpose, and dry in the sun. I wear a swimming suit most of the time (along with sunscreen), and put on a T-shirt when the sun is at its highest. Sheilagh does the same, but opts for shorts and long-sleeved shirts, and is not so eager to step off the boat into the water.
We left Cabo on the 14th and took a day to get to a small bay, named Los Frailes (the friars), which is the first of three day sails to La Paz. There we took the dinghy and our snorkel gear to “one of three living hard-coral reefs in North America” where we found the reef to be a bit deeper than we thought – possibly best for scuba divers. So we retired to the edge of the bay where we saw thousands of small fingerling fish (about the size of a small finger) that moved in unison to get out of our way. There we also saw the same multi-colored fish we had seen in Hawaii – how did they make that trip? It was a beautiful experience and we decided that “tropical” fish are probably the same throughout the tropics. Cabo is south of the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees North latitude) where the tropics start, which led to our conclusion.
Yesterday we fought a 16-knot wind on the nose and 4’ seas to motorsail from Los Frailes to our current location in Bahia de los Muertos (Bay of the Dead), which refers to the sinking of large anchors with buoys onto the bottom of the bay to be used as “dead-man” moorings. The developers are officially changing the name to Bahia de los Sueños (Bay of dreams) to better attract buyers as they create an 18-hole golf course and some high-end homes, apartments, and hotels here just 35 miles south of La Paz. At the moment there is a single building with a thatch roof that houses the Giggling Marlin Beach and Yacht Club, where we had great chicken fajitas last night after anchoring in the setting sun. It’s a good thing we took a flashlight with us in the dinghy to get to shore, because as soon as we sat down in the restaurant the lights went out for about 15 minutes. With the flashlight we were able to help the bartender find us two Pacifico Cervesas to wait out the time.
During our beat upwind yesterday, we left a couple of hatches slightly open to keep some air circulating, but found that even slightly open hatches can let a lot of seawater in when the waves are high. We have had to dry out one of the settees in the saloon this morning and are drying out some books that got damp. Sheilagh has finished rearranging the galley cupboards for the umpteenth time this morning. She can’t seem to relax and just sit around and read, as I am fully capable of doing. I am forcing myself not to feel the need to do anything useful just to keep up with her. I have dozens of books I have been planning to read, a guitar to re-learn, and a chance to do some writing; so I have plenty to keep me busy. Have I thought of work since retiring on the 24th of October? Only in some bad dreams where I wake up with a business challenge confronting me, which I can disregard as soon as I pinch myself! Thankfully those kinds of dreams are declining in frequency.
I am also developing a so-called “beard” as part of my retirement – so-called because it looks less like a beard and more like a skuzzy, patchwork of different colored hairs that don’t seem to want to be part of “team beard.” I also had a barber cut my hair to a short length, as she gave instructions to Sheilagh on how to do it in the future. Naturally the first thing Sheilagh did with my first haircut was to cut short the hair at the front of my scalp, because “it stuck out.” Hopefully she will get better at this. I would reciprocate by cutting her hair short, but I prefer her hair to be longer; so I would be the one forced to live with any damage I did. That’s it for this blog.
After arriving in Cabo San Lucas on the 8th of November we spent a fairly pleasant stay of 6 days. I say fairly, because the place was very crowded, with at least one new cruise ship towering above us in the anchorage every day. There were some 130 sailboats vying for docks or anchoring space as a result of our Baja Ha Ha fleet. We had to choose our spot carefully to drop our anchor; because we needed to make sure we didn’t hit any other boats when the wind changed – as it typically did.
It seems as if everyone in Cabo has a boat (fishing boats, sailboats, glass-bottom boats, wave-runners, parachute-towing boats, dive boats, dinghies, etc.) and everyone uses them at the same time. It was as if flies were buzzing around a new pile of what-flies-prefer, but these “flies” left wakes that constantly bounced our boats. We were also subjected to loud and off-key renditions of Mexican songs late into the night from the hotels along the beach.
What was good about it all? We had some good times with the crew and with other friends we had met. We were anchored in our own home just off the beach, where tourists pay lots of “dinero” to have a view of the beach. The weather is always warm, with cool breezes during both the day and night to keep it warm and not hot. I really like being able to step off the boat into the water to cool off any time I get a little too warm. Then I can get back on and rinse off with hot-and-cold fresh water from a short hose we have installed for the purpose, and dry in the sun. I wear a swimming suit most of the time (along with sunscreen), and put on a T-shirt when the sun is at its highest. Sheilagh does the same, but opts for shorts and long-sleeved shirts, and is not so eager to step off the boat into the water.
We left Cabo on the 14th and took a day to get to a small bay, named Los Frailes (the friars), which is the first of three day sails to La Paz. There we took the dinghy and our snorkel gear to “one of three living hard-coral reefs in North America” where we found the reef to be a bit deeper than we thought – possibly best for scuba divers. So we retired to the edge of the bay where we saw thousands of small fingerling fish (about the size of a small finger) that moved in unison to get out of our way. There we also saw the same multi-colored fish we had seen in Hawaii – how did they make that trip? It was a beautiful experience and we decided that “tropical” fish are probably the same throughout the tropics. Cabo is south of the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees North latitude) where the tropics start, which led to our conclusion.
Yesterday we fought a 16-knot wind on the nose and 4’ seas to motorsail from Los Frailes to our current location in Bahia de los Muertos (Bay of the Dead), which refers to the sinking of large anchors with buoys onto the bottom of the bay to be used as “dead-man” moorings. The developers are officially changing the name to Bahia de los Sueños (Bay of dreams) to better attract buyers as they create an 18-hole golf course and some high-end homes, apartments, and hotels here just 35 miles south of La Paz. At the moment there is a single building with a thatch roof that houses the Giggling Marlin Beach and Yacht Club, where we had great chicken fajitas last night after anchoring in the setting sun. It’s a good thing we took a flashlight with us in the dinghy to get to shore, because as soon as we sat down in the restaurant the lights went out for about 15 minutes. With the flashlight we were able to help the bartender find us two Pacifico Cervesas to wait out the time.
During our beat upwind yesterday, we left a couple of hatches slightly open to keep some air circulating, but found that even slightly open hatches can let a lot of seawater in when the waves are high. We have had to dry out one of the settees in the saloon this morning and are drying out some books that got damp. Sheilagh has finished rearranging the galley cupboards for the umpteenth time this morning. She can’t seem to relax and just sit around and read, as I am fully capable of doing. I am forcing myself not to feel the need to do anything useful just to keep up with her. I have dozens of books I have been planning to read, a guitar to re-learn, and a chance to do some writing; so I have plenty to keep me busy. Have I thought of work since retiring on the 24th of October? Only in some bad dreams where I wake up with a business challenge confronting me, which I can disregard as soon as I pinch myself! Thankfully those kinds of dreams are declining in frequency.
I am also developing a so-called “beard” as part of my retirement – so-called because it looks less like a beard and more like a skuzzy, patchwork of different colored hairs that don’t seem to want to be part of “team beard.” I also had a barber cut my hair to a short length, as she gave instructions to Sheilagh on how to do it in the future. Naturally the first thing Sheilagh did with my first haircut was to cut short the hair at the front of my scalp, because “it stuck out.” Hopefully she will get better at this. I would reciprocate by cutting her hair short, but I prefer her hair to be longer; so I would be the one forced to live with any damage I did. That’s it for this blog.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
We're On Our Way!
This entry will be a bit long since I haven’t entered anything since before leaving San Diego! (I have a few pictures to add but will get them tomorrow!)
We left right on schedule from Chula Vista Marina and joined the Baja Ha Ha fleet for a racing start at 11:00 outside San Diego Bay entrance. Our crewmember, Mitch, in addition to Jim Degnan (our long-time friend who brought the boat down from San Francisco to San Diego), is an avid sailor/racer and has a lot of enthusiasm and know-how to add to all this. We sailed for 3 days and 2 nights and then came into the first anchorage in the middle of the night! We stayed there for 2 days then set out again for another 2 overnights to get into the second stop, Bahia Santa Maria mid-day.
About the second day of straight sailing (after an overnight) just about everyone on this boat and the others I’ve talked to, is ready to stop for a rest! We wear the same clothes for the duration, just brush teeth occasionally and put on new sunscreen—Jim is now sporting a “Bill Seelig” facial shadow! He’s looking pretty relaxed, doesn’t seem to miss work! Since I’m the cook, the guys are doing the night watches in 3 hour shifts and I get to sleep. I’m not a big fan of the night watches—we are able to set the windvane which steers the boat, hands-free, but people on watch still monitor for lights from other boats and check in on the radar. Check out this image (when I get it in here its a shot of our radar screen)—we’re the little guy in the middle! You probably can’t read it, but those are two cruise ships passing us in the middle of the night!! They did see us on their radar and let us know that they would steer clear! The other boats in this event (about 130 of them) are pretty spread out and we can always see some on the horizon. 2 came pretty close last night but the lighting systems and signals are really helpful. Also, when sleeping down below there has been a pretty steady swell and that causes the sails to fluctuate and pop and clank as a swell passes under the boat. It doesn’t worry me any more (thankfully!) to hear it, and I mostly just readjust with my back to the downside and go back to sleep.
We, okay, the guys, have tried out every sail configuration. We have the wind behind us so we’ve gone wing-on-wing (the main sail to one side and the jib on the other) and the same setup with a “whisker-pole” (a rigid aluminum pole) forcing the jib to stay full of air. We’ve had the asymmetrical (one of those colorful ballooning sails) out twice. It’s a lot of work on a boat this size, but hey, we don’t have much else to do!
So far we’ve seen a bunch of sunfish (funny-looking, flat-ish fish) on kelp beds, a couple of whales, and then we came through a school, pod, bunch of (?) dolphins that spread out around us as far as we could see in any direction—that was an incredible sight, probably thousands of them!
Our first anchorage was Turtle Bay, the one we came into at night. “They” say never to enter an anchorage at night, but dang, if you get there at night you don’t want to just sail in circles outside for another couple of hours! After 2 days, stopping is an exciting idea! Jim D. was on the GPS and radar below and the other 3 of us were in the cockpit on the lookout. The GPS would be more valuable if the information they are programmed to was accurate—apparently there can be 2 miles of inaccuracy in these waters (the GPS info is taken from paper charts and those can be many, many years old—some people use Google World to overlay their charts). So we use our depth sounder and radar to verify what info the GPS gives us. We got into the bay just fine and put down the anchor (first time with this boat) with no problem. Then we all slept for a looooong time! The next morning we woke to find we were in a good spot in an enormous bay, we weren’t in any danger coming in the night before. We got human again, showers, clean clothes, breakfast made on a non-rolling boat and then inflated the dinghy to go into the little fishing village. They were ready to do business with the influx of 130 boats and about 800 people! We got some lunch, looked around, found an internet spot (you did get the birthday greetings didn’t you M’Liss?!)and then vegged out some more. The next day there was a sponsored beach potluck. Then we set out the next morning. The next stop, Bahia Santa Maria didn’t have any accommodations at all. Some local fishermen and their families plan on this Baja Ha Ha event coming down each year and bring food and beer and a band from some long distance. I’m guessing they do a years’ worth of business in two days! The best part of that stop was watching the pangas (Honda powered open boats) power through the surf to a cut into a lagoon where they’d then let off the 10-12 people they’d collected from the various boats in the anchorage! It was mayhem only topped by the smaller sized mayhem of people trying to do the same in their inflatable dinghies!! A few big dump-overs! Jim and I aren’t that big on partying so we walked the long stretch of beaches. At one point the sand seemed to move away from us—it was hundreds of tiny crabs with turquoise blue pinchers held high running away! Underway again we set out a line and got a yellow-fin tuna and had it for dinner that night. Sounds just so yacht-ish—but it was a floppy, bloody mess for a while!! Guess we’ll never starve but we need to improve the process!
It took us another day and night to get within range of Cabo San Lucas where we’ve been anchored for several days now. Our crewmember Mitch met his wife here and we’ve had some meals together and caught up with Lake of the Pines news. They left tonight (Monday) and Jim Degnan is leaving tomorrow mid-day. We’ve lugged laundry in and gotten some groceries. We tend to go to sleep before 8:00!
I’m going through some culture shock—not because we’re in Mexico but because just about every familiar aspect of life is altered!! I’m going to get some phone setup tomorrow, I’ve used calling cards a few times to talk to my girls. The internet is sketchy and the Ham Radio version hasn’t been sorted out yet. I did get quickly familiar again with the GPS and radar. The diesel engine coughed and then let out a high pitched alarm about 6:00 one morning and we collectively came up with a diagnosis of the failure of the impeller on the water pump. Since I’m the smallest on board and had some guidance from the guys, we now are intimately familiar with that part of the engine and got it working again.
So it IS a big adventure—I’m sure our comfort level and expertise and familiarity with the boat will all grow. We’re going to La Paz in a three day trip starting on Wednesday and we’ll be in the company of friends who also have a Valiant 42.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!! Jim and Sheilagh
We left right on schedule from Chula Vista Marina and joined the Baja Ha Ha fleet for a racing start at 11:00 outside San Diego Bay entrance. Our crewmember, Mitch, in addition to Jim Degnan (our long-time friend who brought the boat down from San Francisco to San Diego), is an avid sailor/racer and has a lot of enthusiasm and know-how to add to all this. We sailed for 3 days and 2 nights and then came into the first anchorage in the middle of the night! We stayed there for 2 days then set out again for another 2 overnights to get into the second stop, Bahia Santa Maria mid-day.
About the second day of straight sailing (after an overnight) just about everyone on this boat and the others I’ve talked to, is ready to stop for a rest! We wear the same clothes for the duration, just brush teeth occasionally and put on new sunscreen—Jim is now sporting a “Bill Seelig” facial shadow! He’s looking pretty relaxed, doesn’t seem to miss work! Since I’m the cook, the guys are doing the night watches in 3 hour shifts and I get to sleep. I’m not a big fan of the night watches—we are able to set the windvane which steers the boat, hands-free, but people on watch still monitor for lights from other boats and check in on the radar. Check out this image (when I get it in here its a shot of our radar screen)—we’re the little guy in the middle! You probably can’t read it, but those are two cruise ships passing us in the middle of the night!! They did see us on their radar and let us know that they would steer clear! The other boats in this event (about 130 of them) are pretty spread out and we can always see some on the horizon. 2 came pretty close last night but the lighting systems and signals are really helpful. Also, when sleeping down below there has been a pretty steady swell and that causes the sails to fluctuate and pop and clank as a swell passes under the boat. It doesn’t worry me any more (thankfully!) to hear it, and I mostly just readjust with my back to the downside and go back to sleep.
We, okay, the guys, have tried out every sail configuration. We have the wind behind us so we’ve gone wing-on-wing (the main sail to one side and the jib on the other) and the same setup with a “whisker-pole” (a rigid aluminum pole) forcing the jib to stay full of air. We’ve had the asymmetrical (one of those colorful ballooning sails) out twice. It’s a lot of work on a boat this size, but hey, we don’t have much else to do!
So far we’ve seen a bunch of sunfish (funny-looking, flat-ish fish) on kelp beds, a couple of whales, and then we came through a school, pod, bunch of (?) dolphins that spread out around us as far as we could see in any direction—that was an incredible sight, probably thousands of them!
Our first anchorage was Turtle Bay, the one we came into at night. “They” say never to enter an anchorage at night, but dang, if you get there at night you don’t want to just sail in circles outside for another couple of hours! After 2 days, stopping is an exciting idea! Jim D. was on the GPS and radar below and the other 3 of us were in the cockpit on the lookout. The GPS would be more valuable if the information they are programmed to was accurate—apparently there can be 2 miles of inaccuracy in these waters (the GPS info is taken from paper charts and those can be many, many years old—some people use Google World to overlay their charts). So we use our depth sounder and radar to verify what info the GPS gives us. We got into the bay just fine and put down the anchor (first time with this boat) with no problem. Then we all slept for a looooong time! The next morning we woke to find we were in a good spot in an enormous bay, we weren’t in any danger coming in the night before. We got human again, showers, clean clothes, breakfast made on a non-rolling boat and then inflated the dinghy to go into the little fishing village. They were ready to do business with the influx of 130 boats and about 800 people! We got some lunch, looked around, found an internet spot (you did get the birthday greetings didn’t you M’Liss?!)and then vegged out some more. The next day there was a sponsored beach potluck. Then we set out the next morning. The next stop, Bahia Santa Maria didn’t have any accommodations at all. Some local fishermen and their families plan on this Baja Ha Ha event coming down each year and bring food and beer and a band from some long distance. I’m guessing they do a years’ worth of business in two days! The best part of that stop was watching the pangas (Honda powered open boats) power through the surf to a cut into a lagoon where they’d then let off the 10-12 people they’d collected from the various boats in the anchorage! It was mayhem only topped by the smaller sized mayhem of people trying to do the same in their inflatable dinghies!! A few big dump-overs! Jim and I aren’t that big on partying so we walked the long stretch of beaches. At one point the sand seemed to move away from us—it was hundreds of tiny crabs with turquoise blue pinchers held high running away! Underway again we set out a line and got a yellow-fin tuna and had it for dinner that night. Sounds just so yacht-ish—but it was a floppy, bloody mess for a while!! Guess we’ll never starve but we need to improve the process!
It took us another day and night to get within range of Cabo San Lucas where we’ve been anchored for several days now. Our crewmember Mitch met his wife here and we’ve had some meals together and caught up with Lake of the Pines news. They left tonight (Monday) and Jim Degnan is leaving tomorrow mid-day. We’ve lugged laundry in and gotten some groceries. We tend to go to sleep before 8:00!
I’m going through some culture shock—not because we’re in Mexico but because just about every familiar aspect of life is altered!! I’m going to get some phone setup tomorrow, I’ve used calling cards a few times to talk to my girls. The internet is sketchy and the Ham Radio version hasn’t been sorted out yet. I did get quickly familiar again with the GPS and radar. The diesel engine coughed and then let out a high pitched alarm about 6:00 one morning and we collectively came up with a diagnosis of the failure of the impeller on the water pump. Since I’m the smallest on board and had some guidance from the guys, we now are intimately familiar with that part of the engine and got it working again.
So it IS a big adventure—I’m sure our comfort level and expertise and familiarity with the boat will all grow. We’re going to La Paz in a three day trip starting on Wednesday and we’ll be in the company of friends who also have a Valiant 42.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!! Jim and Sheilagh
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