Hello Again Sports Fans,

Okey Doke, so let's start with the widely accepted definition of cruising: Repairing and upgrading your boat in exotic places. Well there ya go, that's it, right there in a nut shell. Good though!

So we've been in La Paz since November 29, 2013. La Paz is referred to by the local cruising community as "Velcro bay" cuz folks come here and just don't ever leave again. It really is quite wonderful place. The weather is perfect. The people are so helpful and friendly. And, the pace of life is just slowed down and there is no way to fight it. Ya just got ta go with the slow flow.

Yesterday we went lookin for a chiropractor to adjust my neck. There was one listed in the phone book. When their phone number was called the lady at the other end says "Yes, I get a lot of these calls. This is not the chiropractor's number". This was in Spanish of course, via the nice lady (Elisa) in the marina office. Ok, so we go looking for the location based on the address. Simple thing you think. Well not so much! First off we have found the address' must have been assigned to people based on when they asked for one or something. THEY AREN'T SEQUENTIAL ALONG THE STREET. You walk along and find #663. You walk further and find 856, You walk further still and find 312! The place you want is 456. Oops, and across the street is 1385! Sooooo a Mexican lady told us the cross streets for address the chiropractor. We went there and asked some people in the lobby of a big modern office building. Their building didn't even have an assigned address! We asked another guy coming out of a door along the street if he could help us. Mind you these folks don't speak English and our Spanish approximately zero. We do have a translator and a book though.

Anyway, this nice man invited us into his office and had his secretary do some checking for us. They spent 15-20 minutes trying to help us. In the end we decided the chiropractor was no longer around. The guy that helped us asked for our phone number so he could go home and see if he could find a chiropractor for us and let us know via phone. These people are soooooo nice!

Since we have tied up to the docks in La Paz we have:
Replaced the injectors on our diesel.
Adjusted the valves on our diesel.
Replaced the impeller and seals and one broken bolt on our diesel's raw water pump. Changed the oil on the diesel.
Removed, disassembled and cleaned the carburetor on our dingy outboard.
Removed the whole damned floor from our dingy and glued it back on. Big job!
Cleaned and sealed our starboard water tank - it was leading from a welded joint - we think. Cleaned and waxed the hull.
Repositioned the oar on our wind vane (the wind vane steers the boat based on wind direction - with no electricity).
Re-calibrated our Alfa-4000 auto helm - another steering device.
Modified the wind vane - tiller pilot connection to be more durable - yet another way to steer the boat.

With all the above taken care of we're now ready to re provision our little home and head out of here! We're shootin for February 2nd. At least that's when our slip fees run out. We're heading to some islands north of La Paz. They are supposed to be absolutely beautiful with crystal clear water to swim in with the local fish and in one spot there are baby seals to swim with too. We're told they come out and play with you. Put their noses on your mask and even nibble your toes playfully. There are also trails to hike around on the islands. Our departure date will be all about the weather. The Sea Cortez here has northerlies that kick up quite a chop: 4' waves very 4 seconds for example. We call those square waves. Why? Because they are! They aren't huge but their shape makes for a very very uncomfortable ride. If you are sailing into them the progress of the boat can be about ZERO.

Weasie just took some of her new seasick meds. They were prescribed by the local doctor that has been so helpful. Hopefully these will not interact with her other daily meds like the last ones did. That's why we are doing a test before we go out on the Sea.

Weasie is preparing a bunch of our pictures to post to this blog. There will be:

Textures
Statues of the Malacon (the Malacon is the wide street that goes along the shore here)
Around Town
Up the Mountain
Stuff and Things

That's all for now.

Le vere mas tarde.