Sometimes you are the show
25 April 2016 | Isla Espiritu Santos
Sue
Friday, April 17, 2016: After 2 1/2 fabulous months in La Paz, at Marina De La Paz, it was time to head north up the Sea of Cortez. It would be so easy just to stop here in La Paz, it is such a great place. Cruisers from all over, Americans, Canadians, French, lots of nationalities. Such a wonderful cruiser family at dock and at Club Cruceros. Many people get here and just stay, forever. We lost FatDash to this wonderful town. They have decided to stay for a season. I am jealous and will miss them. We are sticking to our original plan, time to go if we want to explore the Sea of Cortez and make the crossing to mainland Mazatlan for the hurricane season. I will miss riding bikes to the Cow store for cheese, the farmers market for homemade german sausage sandwiches for breakfast, and Chedraui's to stock up on wine. Not to mention the beautiful Malecon with tons of activities from world class beach volleyball competitions (USA and Canada lost to Cuba), ice cream, restaurants, triathlons, walking tours to learn about all the wonderful statues, Carnivale, and on and on. So it is with mixed feelings we leave and head north.
We anchor at Partida Cove which separates the two islands of Espiritu Santo and Partida. Beautiful spot to explore. We dinghy thru a tiny water passage to the other side of the islands. When it gets too shallow we get out and drag the dinghy. Shaun tells me to do the shuffle to warn off any stingrays hiding in the sand, so I start tap dancing a shuffle in the shallow water. What the hell are you doing, he asks. The shuffle, I reply. "Just drag your feet thru the sand". I wish he would just speak english, it would be so much easier. He says one thing, but in man speak, he means something else entirely
While we were in La Paz, we had a new fridge and freezer imported from the states and installed on the boat. We discover there is now a leak in the line to the fridge unit that was not there before and has to be fixed, so after two nights in Partida Cove, we turn around and head back to La Paz. The refrigeration guy stands behind his work and meets us at dock to fix the problem. We dock at an end tie in 20 knots of wind, hoping we don't go sideways thru the fairway and end up elsewhere. Shaun and the refrigerator guy immediately set to work on the problem but within minutes dock security comes up and reports us to the office. The office wants us to move to a slip and pay for the night. I explain we are only here for an hour at most to get repairs done. This goes on and on while Shaun is down below. I am on deck trying not to get evicted or arrested. (Sorry Baba, you always warn me not to get myself deported!) Mike and Lisa from FatDash join me in the cockpit. The guard hands me his radio and has me talk to the office. The gal talks to her boss and they decide since we have a reservation in May, they will let this indiscretion go. I thank them and give the radio back. A few minutes later two guards come down and hand me the radio again. The gal in the office asks "Do you or do you not have a reservation in May?" I try very diligently to evade the question, but finally I am forced to answer, no we do not have a reservation in May, but perhaps we will make one. That changes everything and now the manager wants $40 US dollars plus tax for tying up to his dock without permission. I have decided I am not paying this, so I throw the refrigeration guy under the bus and announce he gave us permission to dock next to him so he could do a quick repair. That starts a whole new debate from the office through the security guard's radio. Now there are three beefy guards standing on guard to do whatever they do when a yachty pulls a runner. I'm thinking, what are they going to do, chase us in a panga, call the navy? I stand there casually hoping the repair is close. I say to the guards, we are leaving in a minute, no problem. The office sends down another guard, this one speaks English. Damn! He says we have to pay because we did not ask permission before docking, to which I reply we had permission from refrigerator guy. We go round and round. Finally Shaun and refrigerator guy pop up, I explain the situation, and we decide to make a run for it since the repair is done. Shaun asks english speaking security guy, can't we just leave? He hesitates and says yes, go. Pretty sure he wasn't supposed to but he must agree with us, not the office. At that precise moment the wind kicks up to 21 knots pushing us into the dock. Can't just motor off, good chance we will hit someone or something. By then we have 4 security guards and 5 or 6 fellow cruisers standing on the dock. The lines are untied but held by those on dock. We discuss spring lines and other strategies to get off the dock in the strong winds. One cruiser offers to pay the fee so we don't hit their boat. Ye of little faith. We wait for a lull in the wind, Shaun yells "Now, we are down to 10 knots". Lines are quickly thrown on board, Shaun backs off the dock, backing down the fairway, while I rush around deck securing lines. He finds a spot to back up and hopefully get the bow thru the wind and forward as we cannot back thru the narrow channel out to sea. The bow comes around, hesitates, and swings thru the wind. I look back and wave to all the spectators, we are on our way with $40 plus tax still in our cruising kitty. Sometimes you watch the show, sometimes you are the show!
We head back to Espiritu Santo and anchor at sunset. We have a glass of wine and watch a beautiful sunset. Shaun looks at me and asks (I kid you not) "Did you take the trash out"? "Sure honey, I just handed a bag to each of the security guards"