Anna Marie arrived back in La Paz on Monday November 20. After leaving San Evaristo I accompanied Eagle down to Isla San Francisco. The large crescent shaped bay here is quite picturesque. Spent three nights in the bay, only one of them reasonably peaceful. The last night here was down right horrible due to the several large motor yachts now anchored in the bay. The biggest, about 150 feet I think, spent the day ferrying passengers ashore right by my anchorage spot. And going full throttle both in and out in their tenders. All day. Then a late arrival cranked up its disco music and partied until about 0200 the next morning. Absolutely without regard for the other 15 or so boats in the bay.

I eagerly weighed anchor on Friday morning, November 18, around 0900 and sailed south to Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida. I was able to sail all the way with both sails set, arriving around 1400. On the way I had to fix the DataMarine instrument display due to a shorted wire. My wash down hose burst while raising the anchor at Isla San Francisco, so that needed repaired as well. We spent a quiet but windy night anchored in the central lobe in Ensenda Grande. We left the following midday for the short sail down to Bahia San Gabriel on Isla Espiritu Santos. Had a good sail under genny alone, arrived at 1445 and dropped the anchor in about 20' of water. Total trip odometer from Portland to this moment shows 7009 nm. I donned my snorkeling gear and dove to check the zinc anodes and general bottom condition. All is well.

Pulled anchor at 0830 and motored into La Paz Harbor, arriving at an anchorage off the Municipal pier at 1200. In about 22' of water with a strong current and opposing wind, my first attempt to set anchor failed. Second attempt seemed to hold well. About an hour later, however, I raised the anchor a second time and moved the boat a few hundred feet to take the place of a Canadian boat that pulled up and left. My original location was a wee bit too close to the channel.

Since my house batteries (two 6v 300Ah AGM batteries in series) have been failing these last couple of weeks, I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday looking at my options for replacing them. I found that it would take up to four weeks if I ordered exact replacements (Lifeline GPL-6CT batteries), and was perhaps lucky to find a 12v Lifeline GPL-8DL 255Ah battery at Lopez Marine Services. So after a little more research I purchased the battery.

In order to take delivery, I needed to find a temporary slip somewhere in La Paz. Both Marina de la Paz and Marina Palmira were full, as was Marina Don Jose. Marina Costa Baja has slips available but it is located up at the head of the entrance channel several miles away from Lopez Marine. Another choice near downtown is too darn expensive. With a bit of work (had to take a taxi there as the office did not answer the phone), I secured moorage at Marina Fonatur, a few harrowing miles into the shallow inner bay.

So, getting Tom aboard to help, I motored the few miles into the Marina Fonatur on Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day, and was able to get delivery of the battery that afternoon. By Friday evening, November 24, I had the new battery installed and charging off of shorepower. Took some considerable effort to reuse as many of the original cables as possible and to squeeze the battery into the spot the original batteries sat. The original installation was a custom installation so everything fit just so.