Marina de La Paz

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We are back in Marina de La Paz after a rough night with no sleep. Those Coromuels come up suddenly and really rock the boat. I wasn't sure we would stay off the beach. We left Bahia San Gabriel about 8:00 this morning and were lucky enough to get a slip at the marina. We are going out for Thanksgiving dinner.

Bahia San Gabriel, Isla Espiritu Santo Nov. 23-25, 2010

We pulled in to Bahia San Gabriel and anchored close to shore in 15’ of water. We are trying to stay out of the north wind that is supposed to blow. I got my phone call then we went to Sarah Jean II for cocktails with Norm and Beth. There boat is spacious and very nice. I think we need a bigger boat.

Shoreline from Hotel California

This cove is beautiful and so far it is as smooth as a lake. We plan to go to shore and walk the beach. It is a mile long.

The dinghy on shore with our boat and Sarah Jean II in the background

Well the great weather didn’t last long. Wednesday night a coromuel came in the anchorage and blow from the south all night. The boat rocked and swayed like crazy! It finally calmed down around 4am and we were able to get a little sleep. It is supposed to blow from the north for the next week so we are going back into Marina de La Paz.

Ensenada Grande, Isla Partida Nov. 21-23, 2010

We picked up the weights and tank on Saturday, did more provisioning and left La Paz Sunday morning to meet up with Dragons Toy and a few other boats at a cove called Ensenada Grande on the north end of Isla Partida. We heard a northern was coming in so we wanted to get as far north as possible. If we needed to come south, it would be easier. On the way up there we talked to another boat that was up there and they left because it was too rolly at night. It was really a nice anchorage and we got tucked in close to shore, we rolled a bit, but it wasn’t to bad. Tom and Cary came over for dinner and we played dominos. The next night, we went to their boat and played Mexican Train. Tom was the big winner. We need a rematch.

We left the anchorage on Tuesday morning because I was expecting a phone call that afternoon and there was no cell coverage that far out. We weren’t sure how far we’d have to go, but found coverage in Bahia San Gabriel at the south end of Isla Espiritu Santo.

Rick diving on the anchor

La Paz - Marina de La Paz Nov. 17-21, 2010

Wednesday morning we left Muertos for La Paz. We are staying at the marina in the center of town, Marina de La Paz. That night we went to Dragons Toy for dinner and then into town to an awards ceremony for a sailing race at a bar called Papaguyo Mariner (Mariner Parrot). They have the best band with a girl singer that sounds like Janice Joplin. We will be going back to listen to them.


We walked all over town, this should get me in shape! We found the marine stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, fishing stores and everything else. We ordered 20 lbs of diving weights and a small 50cc diving tank to be picked up on Saturday. More walking!

Downtown La Paz

Thursday afternoon was the Baja Ha Ha welcome to La Paz party at Papas and Beer. Free tacos and beer, Mariachi band, little kids dancing and a cruisers band. They also had a raffle with a lots of prizes. We ended up with a free weeks stay at the nicest marina in La Paz, Costa Baha. We will use it soon. It was a great party.
 

Dock Restaurant at Marina La Paz

The Baha 1000 race ended in La Paz this year on Saturday. The town was full of motorcycles, 4X4’s cars and trucks that ran the race. They gathered on the Malecon and closed off some streets. There was also a parade and celebration for a Mexican Revolution on Saturday. La Paz was busy! Sunday we are heading out to the islands for a couple of days.

One of the Baha 1000 trucks

Muertos Nov. 14-17, 2010



Puffer Fish around our boat



I like this bay even better than the last one. Great snorkeling in crystal clear water. We could see our anchor in 25 feet of water. There were a ton of little puffer fish around the boat, the cat was going crazy!

Lunch



El Cardon Restaurant



We went to the restaurant El Cardon for great lunches and margaritas. What a fun place.

One day we took the dinghy to a very nice resort called Gran Sueso. This place is amazing. They were no guests there so we had a tour. If you have lunch or buy a drink you can use the pools. We had just had breakfast so we thought we might come back later, but never made it. Maybe on the way to Mazatlan in January.



Gran Suesos Resort





One of the pools from a room

Rick finally caught a fish! Dale and Rick went fishing in the dinghy along to shore and came back with a Sierra. It is supposed to be good in ceviche. We froze it so we can try making some later. I’ll let you know how it is. Still looking for that tuna!







Los Frailes Nov. 10-14, 2010

Finally, a nice quiet beach to anchor at. A few little fishing shacks on the beach and a place for camping.  We haven’t had any luck fishing, so we bought a fish from the panga fisherman. It was a trigger fish. Steve and Marsha said it was their favorite fish when they were down here. The fisherman filleted it for us, we watched so if we catch one we will know what to do with it. It was good!

The anchorage at Los Frailes

The beach party

The water is so clear, we dove in and cleaned the bottom of the boat. Rick even changed a zinc. Later in the day a lot of cruisers went ashore for a beach party and a game of cricket, taught by the Australians. That’s a different game.



Rick and our dinghy with the fish camp in the background



Saturday night Dale and Dena from Double Dhrama come over for dinner and we played dominos.


Friday and Saturday, the wind came up and blew through the anchorage. We left for Muertos early Sunday morning.

San Jose del Cabo Nov. 8-10, 2010

We pulled in to San Jose del Cabo on Monday afternoon. Stayed at the unfinished dock for 2 nights. We got the last available slip, but boats pull out all the time. There was no power, a little water if we strung 3 hoses together and they weren’t watering the plants. But we did get connected to the internet a little to check the weather. We had cocktails at the Container Bar near the marina office. It reminded us of the container we stored our household in. Dinner was at Tommy’s Barefoot Bar. Great little place. We didn’t go into town, but other boaters did and said it was very colorful. Maybe next time. We left Wednesday morning for Los Frailes.

Sunset at San Jose del Cabo Marina

Tommys Barefoot Bar and Restaurant

Cabo San Lucas Nov. 5-8, 2010

Around Land's End in rough seas. It was worse than it looks



Steve and Marsha went to stay at the Teroso hotel in the heart of Cabo. It will be good for Marsha to get on solid ground. Steve got her more drugs and she is starting to look better. They fly home on Saturday. We headed over to Squid Row for the “Can’t Believe We Cheated Death” Party.

Squid Row Party

Saturday we did laundry and checked out the town. Later we went to the Ha Ha beach party at Medano Beach then on to Mango Deck. Beers and Margarita!!

Sunday we had a relaxing day around Michael’s hotel pool. Sun, fresh water pools, hot tubs and pina colada’s, yeah. He is staying at Fiesta Americana Grand, what a nice place. Later, we had a great dinner overlooking the ocean. Thanks Michael, I needed that!

Pam in one of the pools at Fiesta Americana Grand

 
 
 
 

Rick and Michael in one of the hot tubs

Baja Ha Ha Day 11 Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010

Made it through the last overnighter of the Ha Ha. I baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast because the seas were so calm. Then we rounded the cape of Cabo and the wind picked up to 23-35kts. It was blowing! And we were headed right into it. It was beating us up for the last 5 miles of the trip. Turning to come around the arch it was knocking us sideways. Not the way we wanted to enter Cabo, but we were here! We found our slip, tied up and had the boat washed. A while after we arrived we heard they closed the marina because the seas were so bad. What a trip. We are glad to be in Cabo. Time to party!

Baja Ha Ha Day 10 Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010

6:00am start out of Bahia Santa Maria in calm seas. We had a rolling start because there is not much wind. This is the weather I like.

Hotel California sailing out of Bahia Santa Maria

 Marsha is still down below, sick with a fever that comes and goes. This is a bad trip for her. All the boats are catching fish and spotting whales, we’ve only seen 2 whales and haven’t catch any fish. The auto pilot is making strange noises. Rick is trying to tighten it down to get us into Cabo where he can work on it. Hope it lasts through the night. We’ll do our normal watches tonight and get into Cabo about 10:30 in the daylight. That will be a first for us.

Almost to Cabo

A boat in the sunset

Baja Ha Ha Day 9 Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010

Rick and Michael in the cockpit at Bahia Santa Maria

Another day in Bahia Santa Maria for rest and a beach party. We went ashore and up the hill to the party. They had a great band and served lunch and beers. We walked around in the sun and visited with a lot of cruisers.

Beach Landing

Beach Party

Back at the boat we BBQ’ed up our last steaks because we were told not to bring beef into Cabo in case they check. We leave in the morning for the final leg to Cabo.

A great dinner on the boat

Baja Ha Ha Day 8 Monday, Nov. 1, 2010

28 hours, 234 miles later we are in Bahia Santa Maria, there is not much here, but the sun is shining and the boat is still. We heard on the VHF that a boat went up on the rocks about 2 miles north of us. It was not a Baja Ha Ha boat, but one from San Francisco with one person aboard.  People from the fleet are going over to help remove anything salvageable. Hope he has insurance. The wind is picking up here, but it is nice to be in an anchorage. We went to Double Dharma for pot roast dinner. We listened to the Giants win the world series!! Way to go Gaints!  A few dinghies of kids in costumes came by the boat Trick or Treating.

Baja Ha Ha Day 7 Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010

The seas are still rough. When will we have nice sailing weather?? They kept saying it would be nice when we got south, I’m still waiting. We’ll sail all day and into the night. We should reach the anchorage in Bahia Santa Maria about 10pm tonight. We do get reports of the Giants game from the VHF and hear that the Giant won again! 3 games to 1. Coming into the anchorage in the dark is very stressful. At least this time we are in the middle of the pack so there are a lot of spots left. We dropped the Rocna and went to bed. We've seen a lot of nice sunrises and sunsets, here is one of the sunsets.

Baja Ha Ha Day 6 Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010

Day one of a day and ½ trip .234 miles. We won’t get in until after dark Sunday night. Rolly seas with not much wind. We fished all day with a hand line and heard of a lot of other boats catching fish, but we didn’t catch any. We saw a lot of dolphins again, but no whales. We caught some kelp on the prop and Rick went in to cut it lose. We tied him to the boat in case the current was to strong. He cleared it in a matter of minutes. The prop speed improved! We had a very rough night at sea and couldn’t wait for morning.

Rick ready to dive the prop at sea

Baja Ha Ha Day 5 Friday, Oct. 29, 2010

Marsha is doing a little better, but she will be staying on the boat today. The rest of us are heading into shore for the beach potluck. We took the panga in because I didn’t want to be flipped in the dinghy by the waves. We probably could have made it, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Everyone was at the party and the food was great. I’m even starting to drink Mexican beer, because that was all they had. It was an early day because we had to take off out to sea in the morning.

The beach party at Turtle Bay

Baja Ha Ha Day 4 Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010

Marsha on her way to the clinic in Turtle Bay

When morning came we were able to see where we were. There were so many boats around. The sun was shining and the boat was still. Thank goodness! We could see the town in Turtle Bay. Profligate, the lead boat for the Ha Ha sent an internist over to check on Marsha. He said it sounded like a bronchial infection and she should have the doctor at the clinic check her out and get some medicine. A little while later a panga showed up with a police officer to take Marsha to the clinic. Profligate was with them to take pictures. Hope that doesn’t show up in “Latitude 38”. Marsha was back in about an hour with medicine, hopefully she will get better.

Some of the gang at a beach bar

Rick and I headed into town and met up with a bunch of other cruises at the first beach bar we came to. From there we went to the town ballpark to watch the locals play the cruisers in baseball. Those kids can play ball! After the game we walked over the hill to the Vista Restaurant and bar to watch the Giants beat the Rangers in the World Series. Great game.
 Michael, Rick and I headed back down the hill to a local restaurant for taco dinner. By the time we were on our way back to the boat in the dinghy it was dark and with 150 other boats in the anchorage, it was very hard to find our boat. Good thing Steve turned on the red flashing light in the cockpit or we would have been out there all night.

Baja Ha Ha Day 3, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010

We made it through the night and the seas were much calmer. This is a good day. There were pods of dolphins every once in a while, I always grab the camera and try to get pictures, but it isn’t easy. Marsha was still not feeling well. We were trying to get to Turtle Bay asap. We got in at 7:30 at night, but it was dark. Deciding where to anchor was hard, but we dropped the Rocna and were set.  A nurse came over to check on Marsha and suggested she go to the clinic in town in the morning. We all slept.

Baja Ha Ha Day 2, Tuesday Oct. 26, 2010

The seas were rougher, they were coming behind us and pushing us along. I was feeling better, but Marsha was not. It was supposed to get rougher toward night. This was not a good day or night. The wind was switching from side to side, so the boom was also switching sides too. It was a rough ride, but I’m sure it could have been worse.

Baja Ha Ha Starting Day – Monday Oct. 25, 2010

It was not too cold, but cloudy. There were boats everywhere! We were close to the starting line when the cannon fired to start the rally. It was too windy to fly the spinnaker at the start, but I’m sure everyone did sail for the start. We sailed for about 5 and a half hours and then put up the spinnaker for a while,  then started the engine. The goal was to sail all the way, but we just want to get there!  The seas were rough and the wind died down. I was a little sea sick that first night, but felt better the next day. Steve did the cooking and dishes, thanks Steve.

Starting Day of the Baja Ha Ha

Cabrillo Isle Marina – San Diego Oct. 15 – 25, 2010

We’ve spent 10 days at the Cabrillo Isle Marina with a lot of other Ha Ha boats. More came in everyday. We completed a lot of projects with many trips to West Marine, Dinghy Doctor, Downwind Marine, grocery stores and any other type of store we could find. We rented a car and used it every day.

Mike Emmirick and his sister Janet came to visit us in the marina one rainy afternoon. He sounds like he would really like to be sailing south. Mike, we’ll see you down south sometime soon, let us know when you are coming.

Marsha arrived on Wednesday to help with the provisioning. Steve showed up on Friday. Michael and Patty also arrived Friday morning. We all went to the Brigantine Restaurant to watch the Giants win the Pennant, Go Giants.

Rick bought a new Rocna anchor so he could sleep better at night. He sold the delta, so now we are back down to 3 anchors. We also bought a fender step to make it easier to get on the boat. I bought gray mesh to make shades/screens around the cockpit. I‘ve finished 4 of the 7, I hope I have enough material to finish. Rick also bought fishing gear, we’ll see how that goes since we don’t know how to fish. We bought huge dinghy wheels from the Dinghy Doctor. It took a day and a half for Rick to install these. We are told these are the ones to use to get the dinghy up on the beach. Hope they work because they look terrible on the dinghy.

Sunday afternoon was the Baja Costume party at West Marine. We picked up our Swag bag full of goodies and bought more hats and t shirts.

San Diego weather wasn’t much nicer than the rest of the coast, just no fog and a few sunny days. Still hoping it warms up as we go south. Monday morning at 9:30 we’ll leave the slip to head out to the starting line. 11:00 is the starting time. Hope the weather clears, but they are calling for clouds and rough seas. Oh well, we’ll be heading out for a 3 day ride. Next stop, Turtle Bay, 350 miles down the coast.