Make Me Laugh Again

La Paz, January 2 – 11, 2021

We flew back into La Paz, a pretty uneventful trip. We drove the rental car to the BCX terminal, dropped it off in almost the same parking spot we started in, were met by a company representative who took over the car. We got a cart for our luggage (free) and we walked into the terminal. A few minutes later we were done filling out the required customs paperwork and we started across the border. This BCX (Border Crossing Express) is an amazing value for the cost. It is about $40 round trip from the US to the airport. You have to have a flight into or out of Tijuana to use it. We walked 0.6 miles from where we parked the rental to the counter to check our bags. I have walked that far or further at quite a few airports that I have flown out of over the years. All of that walk except the first 100 yards or so, was indoors. That included all of the customs check out from the US and check into Mexico. The flight was 2 hours, and we had one time zone change so it was only an hour on the clock. Renee’ texted our “uber” driver and he picked us up in front of the airport (He is currently not working for Uber as his paperwork is not quite up to speed. The cost for the ride back to the marina was 200 pesos. About $10 US.

We got back on the boat and discovered…. The shore power breaker for the primary circuit was tripped inside the boat. That means that while the air conditioning, washer/dryer and water maker all had power, the important stuff like the BATTERY CHARGER did not! So, once again dead batteries. The fridge and freezer were up to the mid 50’s for temperature. The batteries were at about 11.5 volts. So, our return started with throwing a bunch of stuff away.

As soon as I reset the shore power breaker, the battery charger started up and shortly after that the Iridium Go! Sent the we are here signal, which prompted me to send an email to support to find out when the last message was sent. Previous experiencer with this device says the battery in it is good for about 8 hours, and it sends a message to say where we are every hour after start up. On Sunday (they are in New Zealand) I got a message back that the last time it sent a message was 12/27/2020 at 23:54:12. So, about 8 hours before that is when the battery on the boat was dead. So, about 4 pm 12/27 is when the battery was dead. We make a little progress with the solar panels during the day, and we use a couple of hundred amp hours per day to run the fridge/freezer etc. So, probably Christmas Day sometime for the breaker to trip. I called Battleborn on Tuesday (no answer on Monday) and talked to a tech who said that if it was only completely discharged for a week, it was not really an issue. Had it been off for a month then I could expect to see some loss of capacity. So, at 4 and a half days, no issue. It took until about 3 in the morning to fully charge the battery. Advantage of new electronics, I can monitor what is going on, or happed on my phone. We discharged 601 AH out of our batteries, rated at 600 AH.

The battery monitoring system (internal to the batteries) turns off the batteries before they go low enough to damage the batteries, which is good and bad. If we are in dire straights, that means our instruments will turn off at that point to save the batteries. Which might not save us.

As a general rule of thumb, our days are like this:

Get up around 7 or 7:30 am. Listen to the cruisers net here in La Paz from 8 to about 8:30. Have breakfast, do our devotions, and figure out what we are going to do for the day. On Sunday there is no net, and we go to church. There is a bilingual church here in La Paz. This Sunday, they had a group from YWAM (youth with a mission) here. Most of the time we have lunch and dinner on the boat, although we have gone out a few times. Best so far was a place called NEMI, mostly a seafood menu, but we had Filet, VERY good! Renee’ and I split a meal, which meant we had room for desert cheese cake and key lime pie.

Today we were told by the guy we contacted (before we got to La Paz) that he was not going to be able to get our work done before we want to leave and that we should contact someone else (he gave the number) for the water maker and wood work that we want done. He had been down on the boat before we left for the states and I am almost positive I told him we would be back on Jan. 2, and the work could start Jan. 4. Oh well, the other watermaker guy said he would start today, and should be done on Friday, or Saturday. The wood guy will be here tomorrow to talk about what I want, and the bottom cleaning is scheduled (I don’t know when, but the bottom cleaner has the message).

I have been busy selling some things on eBay. Our old battery charger/inverter, the old Battery monitor, and a 12 volt to 12 volt charger we did not use (New) all of those sold, and a Battery Isolation Manager (also new, and not sold yet). We tried to sell them here in Mexico before we left for California, and had no serious takers or even offers, until we had the battery charger in California. The discussion was going “Ok” until he suggested that if I did not sell it, we could continue our discussion here in Mexico. This charger weighs 47 lbs. we flew it to California as luggage (so $35). Flying it back was out of the question. I was offering it for sale here for $500 as a starting point, and probably would have taken something less. As it was I sold it for $560 on eBay. All of the stuff is in Sacramento with our son Kyle who will mail it for me. I have pdf files of the shipping labels and packing slips and emailed them to him.

Next up is I have to sort through the quotes I have gotten for new sails. I have seven quotes from reputable sailmakers, and the prices range from $7,863 to $18,640. (Those are the actual numbers). Obviously they are not quoting the same sails. The problem is that I don’t know enough (yet) to know whether the low priced sails are all I need, or if the high priced sails are worth the extra money. Considering we probably will not replace the sails again. The ones we have are about 15 years old, and the new ones will probably last as long, and that would put us in our mid to late 70’s. So, this is truly a one time purchase. One of the seven companies took themselves out of the running. Communications on this sort of thing is very important and theirs was horrible.

I am going to put together a letter tomorrow to email to each of the remaining representatives explaining my lack of knowledge and asking them to make me understand what I am buying and why I should go with them. In the meantime, one of the other IP 445 (same model boat as us) recently got new sails, and his sails are identical to one of the quotes I got. Coincidentally, one of our friends here in Mexico, also bought virtually the same sails. His are a bit bigger as his boat is bigger, and his mast is taller, and he bought his sails in 2017, but his price was about $2,000 less for the mainsail then the quote I got.

We have had a good time here in La Paz. Found a few really good restaurants, attended church at the local bilingual church.

Renee’ had an adventure, she was headed to Walmart on the bus, a very reasonable price of 10 pesos (about 50 cents) to ride the bus anywhere. She has done this trip a couple of times, unfortunately she got on the wrong bus, and wound up traveling south of the airport and got into a small town that did not have paved streets. She called me and we tried to figure out where she was, but somewhere along the line the bus turned around and headed back. Probably no more than an hour or so and she was back where she knew where she was. Fall back plans included calling an Uber for her, or a taxi. In any case she got the shopping done.

This marina has some big boats at 45 feet plus bowsprit and dinghy hanging off the back we are actually about 53 feet, and are currently sitting between a Nordhvn 60 Motor Yacht and a 73 foot sailboat S/V Wolfhound (a gorgeous boat!) here is a link to an article in Yachtingworld about it: https://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/wolfhound-steven-dews-yacht-home-and-studio-for-next-ten-years-95518 We are feeling like we have a pretty small boat here.

Our friends from Oceanside, Duane and Marjie Ericson sold their boat S/V Windrift and he had told me they were headed to La Paz and we should say hello if we ran into them. Well the other night we did, we were in a local restaurant to listen to a live guitarist. We were a bit late, and so had to sit at the bar. A few minutes after we had gotten there, the guy to our right got up and left. A few minutes later someone else sat down and we started chatting, the normal stuff what kind of boat, where are you now, where are you from back and forth. He says his boat is a Passport 40, and I said are you on Windrift? And it was the guy who had bought Duane’s boat. We had a pretty good discussion from about it, and he said he would contact Duane and let him know that he had run into us.

All in all, a really good visit to La Paz, quite a bit got done. The boat got detailed, the stainless steel polished, the blocks for the dinghy hoist and lines replaced, the water-maker had a second membrane installed (was 20 gph now 33 gph) a vent was cut into the cabinet where the charger/inverter is for cooling, and all the hatch hinges are working now! (That is a project that has been going on for months!) Oh, and I have gotten a bunch of quotes for new sails. I think we will be getting some sails that will last a few years and are not very expensive. We will probably get new sails again in about 5 years or so, we should be in Florida by then.

As you walk in Mexico, you have to watch the streets for the uneven surface, but don’t forget to look up. This view is of a tree at a corner that is about 5 feet up from the road.

The black line and pulleys is one of the two dinghy hoists that got replaced here

This is the S/V Wolfhound that I mentioned in the text

This is a 52 foot catamaran. Note that the Mainsail uses “Lazy Jacks” which is the way the main comes down to the boom. The top of that zips over the sails to protect it when not using the sail, it requires someone going up to the boom to zip it, probably 15 feet or more up from the water on a canvas deck.

This season we brought school supplies to the little village of Agua Verde. This week we got pictures in our email of some of the children who got the supplies.

This was about the best picture I could get of the Whale Shark. It is 15-18 feet long. They feed on krill and plankton and don’t see very well. They also don’t move very fast.

Yes, we actually got into wetsuits. The last time I was in a wetsuit was in Ensenada it took almost a half hour to get it on and by the time I was done, I was exhausted (it was a pretty heavy suit) this was a light weight suit and only a shorty. I think we should get our own suits, it just hasn’t happened yet.

La Paz, December 15 – 21, 2020

We are in the marina, walking every day, taking care of stuff on the boat. We have gotten some good beer (Baja Brewing Scorpion) and see a fairly subdued La Paz. Covid has certainly impacted the economy. We have done some Christmas shopping, and work on the boat. We participate in the La Paz Cruisers Net most mornings, (8 am on VHF ch 22a) weather, tides, and local information. We are flying back to Tijuana on Monday 12/21 and walking across the border to visit relatives in California. We return on Jan 2, 2021.

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Posted by BajaInsider on December 19, 2020

Face Coverings Now the LAW in BCS

Wearing a Mask and observing health protocoles is the LAW in BCS.

Effective December 18, 2020 until further notice, wearing a face mask covering is now the law, in simple terms anywhere outside the door of your home. In all locations, in your car, out in the street and of course, in all establishments. you are required to observe social distancing, mask use and gathering limitations. A 36-hour jail stay and a fine of $8600MN if you do not use face masks or do not respect protocols including gatherings and social distancing, that says new law published in the Official Gazette.

AGREEMENT TO DISCOVER NEW SANITARY MEASURES ADOPTED BY THE STATE HEALTH SAFETY COMMITTEE, TO CONTROL, MITIGATE AND PREVENT THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN THE STATE

FIRST ARTICLE. “The purpose of this Agreement is to establish as a priority measure of prevention and care for public health, the mandatory use of a mask as well as other measures to prevent the transmission and risks of contagion of the COVID-19 disease, until the State Committee of Sagunidad en Salud officially declares the conclusion of the health emergency of the SARS CoV2 virus (COVID-19)

SECOND ARTICLE.- The use of face masks is mandatory for all people who are in the territory of the State of Baja California Sur on roads and public spaces or for common use, inside establishments either for trade, industry or Services, Centers of work of any branch, shopping centers, considered essential or non-essential, as well as for users, operators and drivers of the passenger transport service in any modality.

You may argue the constitutionality of mask wearing in your home country, but here and Baja California Sur, Mexico City and some other Mexican States it is the law. If you are here on a visa, tourist, temporary or permanent

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No Pictures for this post.

San Evaristo to La Paz, Monday, December 14, 2020

Up at 5:30, underway at 6 am. Saw the sunrise, started the watermaker by 6:30. BUT, forgot to select it to “tank” for 3 hours, so great water straight back to the sea. Oh well, finished up with somewhere more than 90% in the tank. Dumped the holding tank, and charged the battery. We arrived at Marina Cortez by 2 pm. Got the out board motor sent off to get running, coordinated a visit with Rich Boren Cruise RO water makers and other stuff for the boat. Finally out for dinner and a beer All while catching up on FB. The blog will get done later.

San Evaristo, Sunday, December 13

0500, winds over 25 knots. Down from the hill in front of us, we had 150 feet of chain out, in 30 feet of water. That means about 5 to 1 scope. Which generally speaking is “good” not great, but “good”. Problem with that is that we anchored on a slope, which means as we drag, even just a little we go into deeper water, and soon we are in 35 feet of water, and with out much dragging we ware down to 4 to 1 scope. (Amount of chain out divided by the depth. Good – we were dragging away from the rocks, Bad – both anchor alarms (same program running on two phones) had been silenced, so when I woke up from the wind, and checked the anchor alarm, it was blinking. This really got my blood pressure up to start the day. I adjust the radius of the alarm, which is a way to see if we just set it too tight, and watched it for about a half hour. Then a little before 0600 Reneé asked me how long I had been up and how the anchor looked. I explained what was going on and we got up and put out another 75 feet of chain. This involves starting all the instruments, and the engine, then moving the boat forward enough to remove the anchor bridle (two ropes that go from the forward cleats to a hook on the chain, this relieves the stress on the anchor windlass) then letting out the chain, and adjusting the anchor alarms on both phones (making sure the alarm is not silenced!) Then watching it to make sure we are not moving any further. The moon is up, but it is just a sliver, otherwise pretty dark out there.

There is our excitement for the week.

Oh well, the coffee is brewed and we are awake now.

Battery status:

Battery capacity is down to 28%, generator is running, charging at 70 amps. We used 444 ah from the battery, which means a couple of things:

It is going to take 6 or 7 hours of running the generator to recharge.
This is more than we could have ever taken out of the old AGM batteries, the limit on those was 50%, or 375 ah.
Recharge time is less than it would have been on the AGM’s at 50%, that would have taken 10-12 hours.
We made it two days! We arrived here 2 or 3 pm on Friday and have not run the generator since then.
I was planning to run the generator today so that we could charge the battery, and do a load of laundry. There will be plenty of time to do the laundry later in the morning.
Even at the lowest point of discharge, battery voltage was 13.16 volts. As opposed to the AGM’s which would have been down to 11.8 or lower. This means that all the dc loads work better due to the higher voltage.

Generator off at 11:10. Started probably about 0630, so maybe 4 and half hours, The battery is at 79%, the load of laundry is done, we have had showers and the water heater is full of hot water again. Battery still has 130 ah consumed, We put in 314 ah in that time.

We briefly considered running down to San Francisco, about 2 hours south. This would have shortened the trip into La Paz by about an hour and half, so instead of 10.5 hours, about 9 hours. But when we went on deck with the instruments on, we saw 22+ knots of wind, and white caps out on the Sea. We will get up early tomorrow and underway by 6 or so, and go a bit faster than the 5 knots that I used for those times. We will plan on being at Marina Cortez by 4 pm or thereabouts.

Other than the excitement this morning a very quiet day, with lots of wind. Reneé made cookies, pasta salad and Cole slaw. We also read our books, and listened to Christmas music.

No pics today

San Evaristo, Saturday, December 12

We woke up about 7 am, listened to the net on the SSB Amigo Net 4149 Khz Upper Side Band, or 4146 frequency, at 1400 Zulu time. We will also try to check in, or least listen to the La Paz Net channel 22A at 8:00 am Monday thru Saturday.

The NETs are a way for cruisers to stay connected. They have a check in period for emergency traffic, cruisers underway, then finally for cruisers that are anchored/docked. This is followed by the weather report and a chance for anyone to send a message to anyone else (like stay on this frequency for a few minutes after the NET is over for some personal communications). There are also general announcements given, like updates to the COVID status. SSB has a very long range, we had people on the net near Puerto Peñasco (north end of the Sea of Cortez) and as far south as Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta. As a comparison, we heard 70 degree and 80 degree sea water temps, discussed this morning. This covers an area of about 1000 miles or more north of where the NET was hosted from.

We were here last February 19, and 20. We were anchored near the town, in about 16 feet of water and we snorkeled. I suspect the water was warmer then, but we might give it a shot here again. We are planning on staying through Monday to avoid high winds on Sunday.

Our plan for today is Breakfast (cereal) they kayak for a bit and a trip into town.

We kayaked around the bay, found the restaurant (closed for the next 2 days, as the boss is out of town). Talked to some fisherman cleaning rays, and then back to the boat (had a beer). Lunch and snorkeling for awhile then a nap, and happy hour, (beer, sausage and crackers). Then nothing for a bit, in a really great quite bay. Then put the kayak away and watched another sailboat come in and anchor much closer to town. We checked the weather and will probably get underway very early Monday morning and go straight to La Paz.

Details about the snorkeling, we started from our boat, I swam under and checked the status of the bottom, it is OK, but will get cleaned in January before we leave La Paz. I scrubbed the heat exchangers for the the fridge and freezer. We went into the beach, and stayed within 10-15 feet of the shore as we swam looking at the fish, we saw Puffer fish, we saw a ray, (12-15” in diameter) we saw lots of coral, we saw black fish (very small) schools of sand colored fish (about 1 foot long) and bunches of yellow and black stripped fish. It was like swimming in a fish tank. This snorkeling took us about an hour, and was very pleasant, water temperature was 75 degrees, and air temp was about 79 degrees. It is nice to have a hand held depth and temperature gauge.

Dinner tonight is fish burritos from the Bonito that Reneé caught the other day.