11/20/2009, La Paz MX
The welcome to La Paz party was quite the production by the local government, restaurants and people. The mayor even came out to give the opening welcome.
Before I describe the party, there is something unique about La Paz that needs to be understood and that is the cohesion of the cruiser community. There is a VHF radio net every morning at 7:30am in which "All" the cruisers listen in on. This net is like a community hall that provides all the local news and events that affect the boaters who have just arrived as well as the cruisers who now live in La Paz full time...and there are a lot of them! There is even a mail-call for packages arriving from the US, dive trips are coordinated, sailing outings and even Thanksgiving Feast plans which we will be taking part in. So, everybody knows everybody by the name of their vessel and they know when you arrived and from where.
The welcome party was intended for the new arrivals of the HaHa fleet to La Paz. However, approximately 60% of the people at the all you can eat and drink party were HaHa fleet arrivals from as far back as 16 years! They all wore their HaHa T-shirts from the year they arrived as a way to say..."Hey, we were here first you Newbee". The number of American sailors here in La Paz is astounding and kinda odd at the same time. It makes you wonder how many of them started out planning to circumnavigate and simply found La Paz too nice to leave.
As far as the party goes, the food was great while it lasted and the margaritas and beer were the best we've had since arriving in Mexico. The entertainment was wonderful with local traditional dancers and mariachis. Lori loves the traditional dancers because she was one when she was but a wee girl. ;-)
All is still great here on Trim. Waiting for mail from US and replacement parts for vang. I need to pull the wind generator off today and get it packaged and sent off to Arizona for replacement. Lori and I are betting that the replacement will fail in short order...then we will be fighting for our money back so we can buy an AmpAir unit.
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Tonight is the big La Paz sponsored Baja HaHa fleet party for those boats that made it to La Paz. It will be held at Papas & Beer down near Marina La Paz. The word is that $10 will get you open bar and all you can eat for 6 hours! Count me in!
Picture is of the pool here at Palmira Marina.
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We pulled into Palmira Marina yesterday because our friends on Chrokeva said they had a good deal going for HaHa fleet. Well, for only $25/day we have a really nice slip just 100 feet from the pool, and restaurant...and night club which thumps untill 11pm.
When we pulled in, we had several guys help with dock lines and who quickly offered their services for washdowns, wax and varnish. I hire one of them and got the boat pampered two days straight including hand paste wax $120. That is $60/day for 2 guys to clean and wax the boat...what a deal! It almost makes-up for the Pichilingue ordeal this morning.
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11/19/2009, La Paz Mexico
This morning I woke early to share a cab ride to Pichilingue 30 miles North of La Paz to get our temporary import permit. This is a new piece of paper developed by Mexico to make entry into their ports easier...Ha!
Based on conversations with fellow sailors who just went through the ordeal the prior day, I was told to take photo copies of everything from Passports to Insurance to Documentation to Port Entry papers from Cabo. If one does not have photo copies, they will be sent to back of the line and asked to go get them made. So, last night we made photo copies of everything and I thought I was ready. I met Grace to share a $20 each way cab ride. We arrived at Pichilingue at 8:30 and the office finally opened at 9:30am...about 30 minutes after the posted abierto...which is quite timely in Mexico.
I handed the guy all my copies and he then asked for the originals...I told him I didn't bring the originals because I was told to bring copies. He says oh no senior...you need both! Well F%^K me! I just waisted half a day and $20 bucks to take care of something that is supposed to make this process easier. So, now I have to repeat the process tomorrow.
In the meantime, it is getting hot. Lucky for us, the pool, jacuzzi, restaurant and night club are all just 100 feet from our boat...as shown in the picture.
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11/18/2009, Palmira Marina, La Paz BSC
We made it to La Paz after getting the snot kicked out of us making our way up to Lorenzo Canel from Los Muertos. We all waited for the Northerlies to pass and the weather liers said all would be good including swell. Well, approximately 10 boats made their way out of Los Muertos with us and Chrokeva into Canal Cerralvo between the Baja and Isla Cerralvo. We could tell something was not right when we rounded the point into the channel. We headed nose into 20+knots and waves actions that was uggggly.
After 10 hours of pounding the hell out of the boat and taking millions of gallons across the decks, we finally made it to Punta Diablo to drop anchor before a moonless night fall. Good news was that the decks and hatch were water tight.
This morning we pulled into Marina Palmira where we plan to stay through Thanksgiving.
All is well on Trim.
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