Randall’s sister, Martha, arrived to spend Christmas with us on Sunday evening (December 22nd). We had scurried around on Saturday tidying the boat, installing a replacement fan in the forward cabin, paying our API port-fees, and stocking-up at the small organic-fruit-and-vegetable market. The boat was ready by midday Sunday so we could enjoy a relaxed lunch at the Marina de La Paz’s Dockside Restaurant with Jim and Tricia (Falcon VII), and Rob and Deborah (Avant).

Although Martha’s flight from LA arrived a few minutes early, it took a long time for all of the passengers to filter through immigration and customs so it was well after dark by the time she emerged into the airport lobby. As seems common these days, we found that the ride back to Marina de La Paz in an authorized airport taxi (requested and paid-for inside the terminal) cost about 75% more than the ride to get to the airport, over exactly the same route, had cost in a regular city taxi.

The wind was still blowing pretty briskly and the crossing to Tregoning was going to be a bit choppy, so Randall delivered me and the luggage first and then returned to collect Martha. She managed to stay remarkably dry during the ride and having practiced climbing from the dinghy into Tregoning when we were on the mooring in Morro Bay, she made the transfer quite smoothly despite the sloppy water conditions.

It was a rather mystery-tour for her because in the dark she could not tell what the town looked like or where we had taken her. Such arrivals in strange places can be quite disorienting, especially on a boat that swings around so that the shore-lights can move from one side of the boat to the other and when the night is fairly noisy with the wind and waves. With stronger winds forecast for Monday, we had planned that Martha and I would stay aboard Tregoning to avoid an even wetter dinghy adventure.

Luckily, on Monday morning when Randall made his daily calls to the marinas, we were told that Marina Palmira could take us in a larger slip than we needed. This meant that the rate was a little higher than necessary but Martha was more than happy to help us pay the bill. If you are not comfortable getting in and out of a bucking dinghy, the anchorage can feel like a prison when the wind is blowing so we were all happy to pull up the anchor and motor to Marina Palmira where the nights would be more peaceful and it would be possible to step comfortably from Tregoning onto shore at any time.