In our last blog I had just deposited Leiann in La Paz(in her nice little casita) waiting for me to bring the boat down from Ensenada. I flew back to find the new paint job outstanding. Leiann did not know that I was having butterflies added to the name. She was concerned that who ever painted them might not do a good job. As I was having the name done in vinyl, I figured if she did not like them I could just peel them back off, she loved em. I had a few projects to finish before I could leave as well as collecting crew and clearing out. My new crew consisted of Dave a 46 yo avid sailor, rock climber and surfer. And Will an ex navy medic, rock climber, surfer with some sailing experience. Both jumped in and helped get the boat projects done. We had some fun in Ensenada, I took them to eat the cheapest and best tacos El Pastor, (on me!). We had a little wrinkle clearing out as Dave had an issue with his tourist visa, which required a little help from our paperwork guy Juan. A few dollars later all was good and we were ready to head out. This would be the first time either of my crew had been offshore at night. We headed out early from Ensenada. We had roughly 300 miles to our first stop, Turtle Bay. This is a two nights at sea trip, which went well both crew did quite well even though we had some good size swell and they were a little queasy. We arrived in Turtle Bay after beating into a strong headwind. We wasted little time deploying the dingy and getting off the boat. I took them to my favorite restaurant (the oldest in town,I had been to Turtle Bay twice before over a 15year period). The restaurant and town had changed little since I first saw it in 2005. Pedro, the one armed dinghy watcher met us on the beach offering to watch our dinghy and find anything we needed in town. I rented a room so I and the crew could get a shower. It turned out to be a cold one. Me and Will toughed it out while Dave went down the street for a warm one. Later we found out they were just changing the propane bottle, a little late for me and Will. Later I needed Pedro to lead me all over town to get enough money to pay for my diesel. I thought there was an ATM here, not the case, and no bank. Add to that the electricity was out so the stores that would usually allow you to use your card to get cash could not do so due to no juice. But Pedro found a few places that had a generator, so after a few hours, lunch and several stops ($50 here and $100 there) we had enough to pay our fuel bill and were on our way to our next stop, 250 miles south, Magdalena Bay. Weather predictions were for very light conditions, but as we headed out of Turtle Bay we had to reef down due to gusts of 25 to 30 knots. Then only to take out the reefs only to put them back in and then end up motoring the rest of the way. We were greeted by multiple Gray Whales as we entered the bay, nice. We anchored off the little town known as Man of War. The next day we hired a panga to take us over across the bay to San Carlos. We hit the ATM, bought more groceries and some new fishing lures as we had had our stolen by some large fish (or logs) not sure which. We took our impromptu “taxi/pick up” driver and his friend (interpreter) to lunch after running us all over town. It was a fun trip and our panga driver remembered me from our trip back in 2011! We headed out the next day again surrounded by Gray Whales. The crew were excited to try out the next lures so got our lines out quickly. The area around Mag Bay is supposed to be a very good fishing area. However all we caught was Bonita, which is not the best tasting fish. We held out hoping for some Dorado, a really good tasting fish, but alas we never caught one on the way down to Cabo. Cabo was another over night trip of about 160 miles. We did get to do some good sailing on this leg. The weather now was a nice and warm 80 degrees and the crew welcomed the tropical air. The crew got to do some snorkeling and caught some night life while there. Leiann came down to meet us and we got a hotel leaving the crew to fend for them selves. I met the crew the next morning and found them a little sore headed from the night before. We fueled up and headed out again. We had another 125 miles to get to La Paz. We decided to make a stop over in Bahia de Muretos or Bay of the Dead, don’t know how it got it’s name. We headed out the next day at 3 am so as to get to La Paz around noon. We finally did catch a Dorado, but it was small, so let it go. A few more Bonito brought our fishing attempts to a close. Our trip up to La Paz was uneventful motoring the entire way. But it was beautiful with wilderness and high mountain peaks along the coast. Much of which appeared to have never been touched by man. The crew was happy to make landfall, Leiann met us at the dock and had already arranged for our slip. After nearly four months, several repairs and a few thousand miles Chrysalis III was now at her new home and will be making trips up into the Sea of Cortez from here. After another night of frolicking we put the crew on a plane back to Tijuana. I think they enjoyed the adventure and I thanked them for helping me get the boat down here. They did a great job, and I think learned a lot about sailing a larger boat offshore and all that entails. As I always say “It ain’t for everybody”. Stay tuned for more Chrysalis Adventures as we explore our new home here in La Paz, Mexico. And as always we have an extra bedroom for friends and family who would like to come hang for a while. Life is good!