"La Paz - Agua Verde - La Paz (and a short trip to LA)"

Welcome back to Civilization!

La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, is located at the end of La Paz Bay and at the beginning of the Sea of Cortez. Marina de La Paz was our first marina since we left Ensenada. We planed a short stop to re-provision before heading up to the Sea of Cortez. We also wanted to enjoy some shopping and dining out. We did provision, and the waterline is gone again…. Being in a marina gave us free internet wireless access. Our lines of communications were open again via the Internet and the Skype phone system.

One of the first projects we did was repair the bracket from the boom vang, which had come loose. The local chandlery had the next size SS screws. The damaged threads were drilled out and re-tapped with new threads. The whole assembly was installed with Lock tide. This is how it should have been done the first time by a reputable mast recondioner in Southern California.

We had custom lycra suits made. Some of the anchorages where we snorkel have these nasty little jelly fish called String of Pearls. These suits will make snorkeling and diving more comfortable.

It was the first time we actually got to meet some cruisers since leaving Ensenada.
Most of the cruisers followed us on the Sonrisa net in the morning. They all wondered who those crazy birds were going down the outside of Baja during hurricane season.

The climate was very hot and humid. When we left Marina del Rey, Larry and Mel had this hatch A/C unit for sale. The price was reasonable and we bought it. It was stowed away in a spare sail bag in front of the mast since it is a very bulky unit. We actually forgot about it until we reached La Paz and dug it out again.

Boy, were we glad we had this unit. When we first plugged it in, it was blowing artic air over the aft cabin. In the evening Sue disappeared rather quickly to go to sleep. By the time I made it to the aft cabin, there was no Sue to be found. She was rolled in all of the comforters like a fish taco and only the tip of her nose was sticking out. The day before she was trying to figure out where to stow all of the down comforters for the rest of the summer…… It actually was too cold, so the next day we moved the unit over the main cabin hatch. It dramatically cooled the boat down and helped dry it out from the inside after the trip down the coast.

The cruisers have a musical jam session every Wednesday at a local restaurant were they meet for dinner and some music. One of them looks like a blonde Uncle Monkey! It is a great time and you get to know some cruisers. Some of the cruisers we meet there were Mike from Laotra, and Gail and Houston from Blew Moon.

One of the jammers, Craig and Debbie from Aristocat, invited us for a party on their boat. They were anchored in the bay in front of the Malecon (the city’s boardwalk) to watch the Mexican Independence Day fireworks. There we also met John and Lisa from Andiamo as well as Lynn from Wildflower. Carlos from Waterworks, one of the local marine shop owners joined the party too. It was the first time we saw a “Dogshark”. BB, their terrier has a “fin costume” and goes swimming with it. It’s hysterical.

While on Maitairoa, Jerry approaches us and admires the Peterson 44. He and his wife Cathy own a Peterson 44. Imagine our surprise when we find out they are also a “Roa”. Their boat name is Po Oino Roa. When we told him that our boat name was Maitairoa he wouldn’t stop laughing. He was following us over the net as we went down the coast and wanted to meet us.We are now known as the Roa gang.

La Paz and the Sea of Cortez saw little rain this year. One afternoon as we were about to run into town, we noticed some dark clouds on the horizon. They decided to open the flood gates and about 4.5 inches of water came down within an hour. It rained so much that all of the streets in La Paz were flooded. Unfortunately several boaters were in town and had their hatches open.

September 22nd: After 2 weeks of civilization and marina living, it was time to head north for a month’s time exploring the Sea of Cortez. We went out to Caleta Partida on the island of Espiritu Santo. We spent two days cleaning the bottom of the boat, kayaking and swimming in the warm crystal clear waters. Two local fishermen on their way home ran out of gas in their panga. They gave us 2 red snappers in exchange for a few drops of fuel and oil for their outboard.

We were following Hurricane Otis over the ham net which was developing south of Cabo San Lucas. We were deciding whether to keep going north or find refuge back in La Paz should this hurricane decide to come up the Sea of Cortez. During this night, we were hit by a “Chubbasco” carrying 30+ knots of wind and a lightning show north and south of us. Hollywood could not have done it better. It was absolutely fascinating! The anchor held well, we didn’t move an inch. The big Bruce and 3/8 chain is a good combination to anchor in sand, especially when you have enough scope out.

The weather report in the morning advised that “Otis” was headed for La Paz and suggested to seek immediate shelter. We decided to return to La Paz and stay in Marina Palmira. It is better to be safe than sorry.

While Otis turned out to be only a few sprinkles and a light breeze, there was a bigger system developing around Manzanillo. This system was stationery over the coast line and dumping a lot of rain in the area. It slowly started inching northwards at a turtles pace. Since the Sea of Cortez was the hottest spot around, it was being predicted that it would go up towards the warm waters.

Since we had to wait for the final development of this system, we decided to rent a car and make a “Costco-run” to Cabo San Lucas. Our waterline was starting to show again and we couldn’t have that happen. We found out from Kent Andersson that Barrie and Kathy were in Cabo. It was great seeing them for a beer aboard Cap’n Jake.

We took the long route going to Cabo, which is very scenic but also windy and slow. The return trip was via Todos Santos which is a lot quicker. The roads are very adventurous. The herds of cows grazing in the road are tough to spot while traveling at Mach Speed. Now we know how Sparky and Roseland had some close encounters with some wandering beef…..

As the system never materialized, it was time to hit the “Sea” again. We were getting antsy sitting in a marina. That’s not our idea of cruising. We again went to Caleta Partida, sailing the whole way up. While anchored, the same fishermen approached us. They asked us if we could drill some holes into a piece of Plexiglas. No big deal, out came the drill and the six holes were drilled. The question arose that six more holes had to be drilled into the case in the village. Alex went with the drill by panga to the village to drill the additional holes. As a thank you, they came back next morning with a huge zip lock bag of freshly filleted snapper. Fresh fish is especially delicious when someone else cleans and fillets it. No mess on Maitairoa today! There was enough fish for three meals.

The next morning we continued sailing to Punta Evaristo. It's just another beautiful day in paradise. We anchored overnight, again by ourselves and left the next morning for a straight run to Agua Verde, our final destination.

Unfortunately, the sailing gods were not on speaking terms with us this time. The wind blew on the nose for the entire trip. We didn’t even bother to raise the main sail. 9.5 hours later the anchor went down in the West Bight of Agua Verde Bay. Again, nobody was there. For 5 days we had the whole anchorage to ourselves. The kayaks hit the water, the snorkel gear came out and most of the time was spent in the water. Alex found some time to do some boat projects, like hooking up the forward looking sonar, a.k.a. fish finder….

The village, which is famous for their goat cheese, had none to offer. While there are enough goats around, it hadn’t rained in a while. The goats couldn’t produce enough milk. We will have to wait until spring when we plan to head back up into this area.

Since we had to catch a flight to L.A. on Friday, 10/21, it was time to start inching down the coast towards La Paz. Our first stop was Puerto Los Gatos. While on our way, we heard Andiamo and Wildflower on the radio. As it turned out, they were headed for Los Gatos too. A potluck was quickly organized after Andiamo landed a nice sized Dorado. As we approached the anchorage, we saw that Sarah Elisabeth with Rick and Liz aboard was already at anchor (they were our dock neighbors in Marina Palmira). They joined us for the potluck aboard Maitairoa that evening. What a wonderful dinner with many bottles of wine… Everybody had a marvelous time.

In the morning after some light kayaking, we lifted anchor. We were able to sail under spinnaker straight out of the anchorage for almost all of the 27 miles to Punta Evaristo. Although our final destination originally was Isla San Francisco, Darrel and Rita from “Overheated” convinced us not to go due to the bugs in the anchorage. We actually never met them before, but started talking on the radio during the day. We were both running under spinnaker. It’s another way of meeting other cruising boats…

Once anchored in Evaristo, nobody wanted to launch the dinghies for such a short period. It was agreed we would meet for cocktails during the next jam session in La Paz. They had to leave by 6:00 AM in order to arrive at Marina de La Paz while the office was still open.

Our anchor came up around 9:00 AM for our run to Balandra Bay, our original destination. We had all of the right Gods on our side that day. First a beautiful dorado decided to go for one of the trolling lures. Dinner was secured and plenty for the freezer.

The Wind God decided to blow from the right direction, so the chute went up for an E-ticket ride south. By the time we were half way down Espiritu Santo Island, we were surfing at 7.5 knots+. The winds were building to 20 knots+. It was time to douse the spinnaker (so it wouldn’t blow into shreds) and continue sailing with main and jib only.

All day long, the Weather God smiled upon us with perfect temps in the high 80’s under blue sky.

As we approached Balandra Bay, we saw the beach scrub was on fire. Since a smoky evening wasn’t on our agenda, we opted to go further south to the next anchorage in Caleta Lobos. We spent a nice and quite night at anchor, enjoying the fresh Dorado prepared in butter and garlic for dinner with a bottle of two buck Chuck Chardonnay.

In the morning we went back to the marina for some final preparations before heading back to the States. We had to stow all of the loose valuable stuff stored on deck to avoid it getting feet while we were out of town. So dive tanks, kayaks and other miscellaneous items went down below. Our dock neighbors, Susan and Dennis from Two Can Play, were extremely kind and gave us a ride to the airport.

On October 21 we boarded Aero California for LA. Gonzo picked us up at LAX. I think we are in for some culture shock. Our feet are already hurt from wearing shoes! See you in LA!