We arrived in La Paz two days ago and checked into this amazing marina. We had originally planned to come in and refuel only but there is a big beach party here this afternoon following the Mayors Cup (a local yacht race) and they are offering special deals on marina slips. We asked the price for 4 nights and were told US$135 which is pretty amazing. But what was even better was that if we stayed longer (8 days) the total cost would be US$75!! I don't know how the Mexicans do their math but maybe we should have booked in for two weeks and it would have been free.

The marina is fantastic. Get this - for less than $10 a night we are staying in a 5-star marina with supermarket, gym, mini golf couse, two bars, dive shop, art gallery, restauarant, resort hotel with pool, spa and lots of other restaurants. Pretty amazing.

Oh, I forgot to mention the free shuttle bus that takes us into town, about 5km away. We went in yesterday and explored. I had to find a DHL office to return my new Balmar alternator because it stopped working two days out of San Diego. That was a challenge because the DHL rep spoke no English and I didn't realize I had to take the alternator to Customs and have them seal it in a bag before DHL could accept it. With her trying to explain this to me and me not understanding a word, I now understand the true meaning of a "Mexican Standoff". Anyway all was eventually resolved and the alternator is hopefully winging its way back to Arlington WA.

My autopilot spat the dummy coming into La Paz. An oil seal on the hydraulic ram decided to leak and that was the end of the autopilot. We usually sail with the Monitor vane but we had been motoring all night from Los Muerdos and were using the autopilot in very bumpy seas. I've now pulled it out and will take it into town on Monday and find someone who know hydraulics who can fix it.

Debbie's sister, Gail and her husband Milton leave us on Monday to fly to Pheonix and continue their holiday through the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. It's been great having them on board and we'll miss them when they are gone.

We have been invited by David and Melinda on 'Talerra' to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. That'll be a real treat.They were out yesterday looking for a Turkey. Someone came up on the local cruiser's net yesterday explaining they had a pet goose on their boat and wanted to ensure no body mistook it for a turkey. It's not a good time of the year for turkeys or any other winged object resembling one.

We've added a few more photos to the gallery - just click on the link.