Kevin Young's Sailing Visit to La Paz

We took a short break from cruising, making a 10-day visit back up to San Diego. This allowed us to file our taxes and host a bridal shower for our daughter, Chantal. These events provided two reminders, that unlike our cruising existence, the real world continues to progress in an organized, temporal fashion.

We were joined on our return flight south by an old work friend and sailing enthusiast, Kevin Young. In spite of his trepidation regarding travel safety in Mexico, he placed his trust in our hands and accompanied us on our trip back to La Paz. We taxied from our house, dropping our daughter off at the airport for her return to San Francisco and continued on to the Greyhound bus station in downtown San Diego to catch the shuttle to the Tijuana airport. It was gray and wet in San Diego when we departed and continued to drizzle all the way to the General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport in Tijuana.

The airport was busy when we arrived and Kevin and I had to apply for FMM visas (usually issued for 6-months, mine was about to expire) before checking in to the airlines. Our luggage was x-rayed upon entry to the

ticket terminal area; all checked luggage underwent hand inspection before being checked at the ticket counter; and, all carry-on bags were x-rayed once again when passengers were checked through the metal detectors. We're not certain if this redundancy in security either confused or impressed Kevin, but once into the airport concourse, the boarding and flight went flawlessly. We arrived at El Alto International Airport in La Paz in the early afternoon and were picked up by our friend Mike on s/v Trig, who was kind enough to drive our truck to the airport. In contrast to the weather in San Diego, it was sunny and bright in La Paz with the temperature in the mid-80's. After dropping our bags off at the boat, we made a trip out to Playa Balandra to show Kevin one of the beaches here in La Paz.

We spent the first full day after our arrival cleaning and provisioning the boat before exploring a little of the town. The following day we topped off the water tanks and prepared to get underway for a trip to the islands to the north of La Paz. We cast off around 11:30 a.m. and motored out of the channel and into Bahia de La Paz. We hoisted the main and unfurled the genoa and began a long tack to the west, paralleling the shoreline of El Magote. We noted large reddish-brown swaths in the water and determined them to be currents containing blooms of red-tide. We held this westward tack for about 6 nm before tacking toward Isla Espiritu Santo, to our north. About the same time, Kevin broke out the fishing pole and, armed with a silver Rappala, began trolling for fish.

We continued on this tack for another 12-13 nm before falling into the

islands wind shadow. We furled in the genoa and began motor sailing under main, alone. As the distance to the island was closed, we motor sailed past the anchorage and large beach at Bahia San Gabriel. We continued up the coast passing a large group of kayakers camped at El Empachado and on to the three lobes of Puerto Ballena. We passed on the inside of Isla Gallina and the southern most lobe at Ensenada la Gallina with one boat anchored there. The middle lobe, Ensenada el Gallo, had two boats at anchor, so we proceeded between the point of the island separating the middle and northern most lobe and Isla Gallo. The anchorage at Ensenada de la Raza, the most northern of the three lobes, was empty of other boats. Luckless with fishing, Kevin reeled in the fishing line and prepared to anchor.

Kevin dropped anchor at about the middle of this anchorage in about 20-feet over sand. He paid out an appropriate amount of scope before I backed down on the anchor, insuring its' purchase in the bottom. We all sat back in the cockpit to take inventory of this lovely anchorage. Mangroves framed the white sand beach to our east, which was tucked into the folds of the two promontories forming the north and south boundaries of the cove. To the southwest were the two small cactus covered islands, El Gallo and La Gallina, with their own flock of Frigate birds and seagulls wheeling over each. To the west the sun was getting low over the distant cliffs of the western shore of Bahia de La Paz.

With the sun getting low in the sky, Kevin set about shelling and cleaning

the kilo of shrimp we had purchased the previous day. Meanwhile, Kathie prepared the fresh garlic, olive oil and butter in the saute pan for the shrimp. She also cooked some whole-wheat fettuccine and added pesto. All of this was accompanied with a plate of sliced fresh tomatoes. We enjoyed dinner alfresco at sunset and savored both the food and the setting.

Nightfall brought a full sky of stars and planets, seemingly unaffected by the luminosity of city lights some 20 nm to our south. Night time also brought us a curious sea lion who played and fished within yards of the boat before finally leaving the cove. We all turned in to the start of a peaceful night at anchor.

All was well until shortly after 12:30 a.m. when the coromuel winds began to build out of the west. In addition to causing the halyards to clang against the mast, the winds also generated short wind waves which caused the boat to rock. Normally, the motion these bring would be soothing. However, since Citla tends to dance on her anchor, when the waves were bow-on they were comforting, but when the boat danced to the side, the waves caused a side-to-side rolling which makes it very difficult to sleep (unless one is in a hammock). Too tired to care about noisy halyards, I went back to bed to fight through the sideways rolling, hoping the motion didn't foretell of the boats dragging anchor.

We all awoke the next morning to bright sunshine and calm winds. None

of us were particularly rested from the previous nights noise and motion, but we enjoyed the serenity of the morning at anchor nonetheless. Kevin really wanted to do more sailing. Between the noise and motion of the previous night and his desire to confirm his flight back to San Diego on Saturday, he opted to forgo another night at anchor, but instead spend the day sailing and making our way back to the marina in La Paz.

We had breakfast while waiting for the wind to fill. Once the dishes were cleaned and everything was stowed, Kevin hoisted the anchor and mainsail and we made our way out between Isla Gallo and Isla Ballena to the north. The wind was blowing between 12 and 14 knots when we unfurled the genoa and took off to the northeast. It was decided we'd sail up island until reaching Caleta Partida, where we'd jibe and reach back towards La Paz. We enjoyed a glorious morning of sailing north along Espiritu Santo and then jibing and reaching back down the coast. Once as far south as Bahia San Gabriel, we jibed onto the opposite tack and were reaching west, towards El Magote in the distance. Once again, Kevin decided to drag the silver Rappala behind us in the hopes of catching a fish.

We had been on a deep reach sailing along at around 5.5 knots for over an hour when the fishing reel began to sing. I took the helm from Kevin and he took the rod and began to reel. Initially, his efforts were to no avail.

It was not until he tightened the drag considerably did he begin to make progress in closing the distance between the flashing neon color at the lines end and the stern of the still reaching Citla. After a bit more than 15 minutes of fighting the fish, Kevin landed a respectable Dorado weighing around 15-18 pounds. I spent the next 20-30 minutes filleting two large pieces of fish for the refrigerator. Once done, the bony carcass was disposed of into the Sea and the side deck was swabbed clean of the blood.

Invigorated by his first salt water catch (and the largest fish he ever landed), Kevin retook the helm continuing to pilot us towards our marina. The wind began to fade in late afternoon, so in with the genoa and on with the diesel. A bit more than an hour of motor sailing brought us to the channel mouth and 30 minutes later to the entrance of Marina de La Paz. After tucking the boat in, we proceeded to La Costa restaurant, fresh fillets in hand, and had the fish cooked and served with rice and drinks. The cooks prepared the fish using three different recipes: breaded and deep fried; with garlic and butter; and, Veracruz style, with tomatoes, green olives, capers and onions. There was more than enough fish for the three of us and each presentation was delicious. We left sated carrying almost half the fish as left overs.

We spent Friday walking along the Malecon and shopping for recuerdos (remembrances) for Kevin's kids and friends. Kevin also confirmed his flight and had the marina office print out his boarding pass. Later that afternoon, we took a drive out to the outskirts of La Paz, to visit the poorer neighborhoods. Kevin had observed earlier that most of the people of La Paz all seemed to be middle class. A drive through the dirt roads out towards the land-fill demonstrated that not all of the city's population is middle class.

Friday night was Kevin's last night in La Paz. Coincidentally, it also marked the last night in La Paz for our friends on s/v Merlot. They were leaving the following morning to head up into the Sea of Cortez and eventually up to San Carlos to store their boat for the summer months. Larry and Fran from Merlot, Mike from s/v Trig, Kevin, Kathie and I all went for a sunset dinner together on the second floor of Rancho Viejo Mariscos. We shared dinner and drink above a view of the La Paz harbor at sunset.

After our meal, Mike left to go back to his boat and the rest of us walked along the Malecon to our favorite ice-cream store, La Fuente, where we all ordered ice-cream for desert. We sat on the colorful benches in front of La Fuente for some time enjoying the scene and each others company. It was getting late and the crew of the Merlot had to turn in to be ready for their morning departure. We headed back down the Malecon toward the marina, joining families, kids on bicycles and others on roller blades, enjoying the fresh night air along the harbor.

We were up early Saturday morning and were able to send off Trig and Merlot from the marina; Merlot on her cruise north and Trig out to the

islands for the weekend. Kevin collected his belongings and packed for his afternoon departure. After breakfast we took Kevin to the Ibarra pottery studio in the southeast part of town where he purchased several unique pieces of pottery to be given as gifts. We returned to the boat around noon and Kathie prepared avocados, cilantro, tomatoes and warm tortillas to be served with the remainder of the left over dorado. It was fish tacos for lunch just in time before our departure to the airport. Just a bit after 1 p.m. we dropped Kevin at the airport in La Paz and he began his journey home.

Kevin had a very short stay in La Paz and we hope he enjoyed it as much as we did. We did have an opportunity to do some sailing and visit at least one of the offshore anchorages. Best of all, Kevin was able to catch his first salt water fish and, being a dorado (mahi-mahi), it couldn't have been much better. We'll be thinking of you while you're back at work...

Return to La Paz

It's good to be back in La Paz and in the boat. After being in the slip since early November, the decks have accumulated some dust and the stainless some rust spots. Inside the cabin, we didn't perform an adequate interior cleaning when we left for San Diego, so Kathie spent time sweeping and vacuuming the cabin, as well as deep cleaning the head. I managed to do a preliminary hose down of the deck, but with the sun and warm weather I found it too warm (read: 'too nice') to spend much time cleaning the outside.

We met our neighbors in the Catalina 30.9, JUCE, Judy and Bruce. It turns out the following day was Bruce's 65th birthday and we were invited to join them for dinner followed by birthday cake.

The celebration began with cocktails at the Dock Cafe followed by dinner at La Fonda on Nicolas Bravo. We were joined by Ricky off of HOTEL CALIFORNIA and John of CORAL ROSE. After a few more cocktails with dinner, Kathie and Judy had a challenging walk back to the marina for home made chocolate cake and ice cream! Both Kathie and Judy survived their ordeal, but Bruce awoke the following morning with his back wrenched.

Kath and I checked out the new CCC on Abosolo. CCC was purchased by a new owner and has been refurbished. The layout is more open with a large selection of food, produce, clothing, sundries and housewares. We also checked out the Weaver's on the Abasolo. The inventory was much less than what it's been in years past. Tourist downturn and the poor economy were given as the reasons for the lack of inventory.

As soon as we manage to find a secure permanent parking space for our truck, we would like to get out to the islands for some anchor time. We've spoken to Neil Shroyer about finding a space at the marina, but so far parking has been impacted. The next try will be to see if Tomas and Anna have space for parking. In the meantime, clean-up of the boat continues.

As luck would have it, in a town of about 300,000 people, we ran into Tomas and Anna at the marine store located in front of Marina de La Paz. We caught up over the next 30 minutes and made tentative arrangements to use their compound to park the truck if nothing materialized at the marina. It was good seeing Tomas. Neither he nor Anna seem to change over the years.

Thanksgiving in La Paz

Making routine blog entries is almost as hard as leaving La Paz. We arrived here in early November and, pressured by the marina to set a departure date, decided to be conservative and chose January 15th, 2009. We did plan to have Thanksgiving here with family and friends, but now we'll be celebrating Christmas and New Years, as well.

La Paz is the capital of Baja California Sur and was founded in 1535 by Hernado Cortez. It wasn't until 1720 that the village gained a permanent foothold,after the Jesuit missionaries colonized the area and constructed the Nuestra Senora del Pliar de la Paz mission.In its early days, La Paz was famous for its pearls. While the pearl industry is just a memory in its history, the city remains a pearl unto itself. With the square in front of the Mission and remnants of colonial architecture splashed throughout the town it has a charm and character that is unique.

Hans arrived in La Paz for fishing, a week ahead of the kids. Andrew, Chantal, Sean (Chantal's beau) and Nicole all flew in a week before Thanksgiving.
They were originally scheduled to stay in the hotel Los Arcos, but that hotel was shut down due to a strike (and remains closed a week before Christmas). Thanks to David Jones, the owner of the sports fishing business where Hans was staying, we were able to get rooms for them at La Perla, down the Malecon from Los Arcos. The Seisun family (Dennis, Verena, Christine and Daniel) also flew down for the Thanksgiving day holidays.

Dennis and Verena Seisun generously offered their casa on Las Margaritas in the La Posada neighborhood and the use of their Vanagon. We made good use of their car to restock Citla upon arrival in La Paz. It was also nice to be able to do a couple of loads of laundry at their house (it went a long way towards improving the environment on board!).


We spent the week taking in as much as we could of La Paz and the surrounding beaches. There was way too much to see and far too little time to take it all in. Andrew and Sean did their best to critique the town's ability to serve a good margarita. While their survey was not all inclusive, the verdict at the end of the week was that the Dock Cafe at Marina de La Paz pours one of the most potent margaritas they sampled. Nicole's Spanish proved invaluable to all of us during our week of adventures and misadventures. She made quite an impression with the representative from the Secretary of Tourist board in La Paz!

.

We had a delicious Thanksgiving day feast with the family (minus Danica)at David Jones's house with his gracious wife Jane, their extended family and the many people who work with him in his fishing business. Two deep fried turkeys, pulled pork, mashed potatoes, yams, salads, string beans, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings found us too full to enjoy the enormous desert spread put on after dinner.
We left saited and happy to have been able to share this holiday with others.











The week went by way too quickly. There was so much to see and so little time to do everything we'd like in the limited time the kids were here. We did have an opportunity to anchor for the day at Caleta Lobos, where we enjoyed an afternoon of swiming, eating fresh ceviche and enjoying cold cervezas. The only members missing this excursion were Hans (he was out fishing) and Daniel (who was at casa Las Margaritas doing homework).

The Saturday after Thanksgiving came all too fast and we said our good-byes to the kids in front of La Perla Hotel as they boarded a taxi for their flight out. Sunday was Hans's flight home. Monday afternoon, we drove the Seisun's out to the airport in the Vanagon and found ourselves suddenly alone, without family or friends in La Paz. While we missed them all terribly, we agreed that life could be much worse.