Now at Marina Palmira
01 January 2010 | Marina Palmira, La Paz, Mexico
still Bill--Cool and Sunny.
OK, I'm back and it's day 609 since we started back at the end of April in 2008. Hard to believe so much time has passed since we moved on board.
Well, here is a wrap up of the last week with Matt(our son)on board. I know you all read about my massive OOPS! in the last post so I'll start there. Karen asked about how he handled it--Calmly. Actually, he tried to calm me down as I was beating myself up for doing something so dumb. With Tracy along, they both were voices if sanity and reason to my accident.
Any how, we finally left Marina Costq Baja for Isla Pardita and a nice bay called Ensenada Grande along its Northwest shoreline. A great anchorage with three separate inlets off the main entrance. We chose the North one (24 34.000N 110 24.440W)as the center one had a nice beach and lots of tourists that got boated in on Pangas(small fishing boats) from La Paz. The South inlet, had about a half dozen boats already at anchor and we had the North one all to ourselves after the only remaining boat left(about a hour after we pulled in). Our GPS put us up on the shore instead of in the water. That's a big reason why you never enter a new harbor at night. The water was a beautiful shade of blue green with a view all the way to the bottom. We launched Puff and Dragon and took off on a tour of the cove and to find the Blue Footed Booby nest in the next cove. Apparently, they only exist at the Galapagos Islands and along this shoreline(so we have been told). We found a nice group in the next bay. Not hard to find, just look for all the rocks covered with bird poo(not rocket science). I'll post some pictures later of what they looked like. Matt steered us along using Dragon(our outboard) like a pro. When we came back to Ensenada Grande, we went ashore at the beach along the South shoreline and poked through the shells and sand for a while. We used our Danard wheels on Puff to help get us ashore. They worked great at keeping the outboard prop from hitting the bottom. Once on shore, we pulled Puff up to make sure she didn't drift away. It was fun poking around seeing what we could find. When we climbed back in and started Dragon, I noticed that there wasn't much cooling water coming out of the engine. I took over and steered us back to the boat keeping a close eye on the coolant spray of water from the engine. Once back at Zephyr, Matt and Tracy went in for some snorkeling while I stayed on board to read and relax. It was great that the diesel engine on Zephyr had performed flawlessly(no water to screw it up) for the trip over. Of course, the winds had been against us all the way up the island. We settled in for a nice night. The moon was approaching full so it not a great night for star gazing. Boy, the Moon can sure be bright!! We had a nice turkey dinner to celebrate Christmas--a few days late, but what the heck.
We planned on returning to Marina Costa Baja Monday afternoon as Matt was to leave on Tuesday afternoon. Monday started out nice but quickly clouded over and actually started to rain just as we left the anchorage and headed home. When the rains came, the winds left so we were forced to motor back to the marina. Sometimes, there is just no way to win. We had hoped to fly the spinnaker for the trip back, but that was not to be. We got back to Marina Costa Baja about 1630 and settled in along with the rain. La Paz only averages 6 inches of rain a year, so we saw something that rarely happens around here. It rained off and on through the night.
First thing Tuesday, I took off for downtown to pick up our rental car so we could get Matt to the airport. I'd booked a car with National and since I did it online, I got the best deal on a rental car since we have been here. The "normal" rent a car goes for upwards of $60.00 a day!!! And that is for a compact or economy car. I got this one for $37.00 a day--not cheap, but a far better price. While in town, I checked on Marina La Paz for their rates--$39.00 a day. I then stopped at Marina Palmira(about two miles South of town). They came in at just $23.00 a day. A whole lot cheaper than the $37.00 we were paying at Costa Baja and it's within walking distance of downtown. After talking to Tracy, we stopped in after dropping Matt off at the airport and booked ourselves in to their marina for a nice 10 day stint. This will give us plenty of time to work on assorted projects on Zephyr. I want to get the water maker installed if I can possibly do it. While we were there, we did our laundry(hey, it's lots cheaper than Marina Costa Baja) and had a nice lunch at one of their restaurants.
We got Matt to the airport and sadly watched him leave. We're going to try and get him back on board in a few months when we can actually do some sailing.
On Wednesday, we finally got the Honda generator fixed. Favian came by and adjusted the oil inlet so it now starts just fine. With all the work he has done on the generator, he only charged us $60.00!! He's the same guy that took care of the water in the diesel tank problem. We took our propane tank out to be filled. We've been using the same tank since Newport, Oregon--and that was back on August 21. That's over 4 months on one tank. Not bad.
Yesterday--Thursday, we returned the rental car, paid our bill at Costa Baja and took off for the 2.7 mile trip to Marina Palmira. We needed to be out of Costa Baja as early as we could as a big "Norther" was due anytime. These babies pack winds in the 30 knot range and we didn't want to be in the La Paz channel in those winds, let alone going into a marina in them. We're now at Marina Palmira (24 10.959N 110 18.192W) safely tied to the marina. About 30 minutes after we pulled in, the winds started to pick up and they blew for the entire rest of the day and far into the night. When we made our reservations, we had filled in all the paper work so checking in was a breeze. We spent the rest of the day getting settled and having a nice lunch of left over turkey on board.
This morning, I finally found the "ear muffs" that clamp to the outside of the outboard and push water up into the water intake vent. I've been searching for them for quite a while. I just didn't dig deep enough. I hooked the "ear muffs" up to the hose and let her rip. A pull of the lanyard on Dragon and she roared to life though she still didn't produce much water out of her coolant port on the side of the engine. I blew through the hose that goes between the pump and the outlet and it appeared to be partially blocked. I jammed a short piece of wire in the hole. Still no good. I pulled off the hose where it exits the pump and lots of water came out of the opening. When I put the hose back on the pump, it started streaming out the pipe the way it is supposed to. Problem solved. I let Dragon run for another 5- 10 minutes to make sure any salt that might be up in her plumbing was gone and shut her down. Something was just blocking the hose outlet.
I stuck my head under the stern bunk to check the hydraulic steering assembly. Still a drop or two on the pipes but not much to worry about. I'll climb back there in a day or two and get it all straightened out.
We hiked into town to play tourist and have some lunch while visiting the Club Cruceros at Marina La Paz. It's more of a hangout for cruisers making their way through La Paz. A nice library and a lending DVD library. We stopped at the local "Thrifty Ice Cream" parlor on the way back to the marina for a nice dessert. All in all, we walked about 6 miles coming and going. A nice bit of exercise.
You sure can tell the locals from the tourists and yachtistas. While Tracy and I are walking around town in shorts and tee shirts with sun hats and sunglasses, the locals are all bundled up in coats, with scarfs and long pants huddling trying to keep warm. I guess they just have thinner blood than we do.
And there you have it. You're all caught up!! Tomorrow, more projects. We think we may know where we will be installing the water maker. Tomorrow we will see if it fits.