Kievit and crew are still in La Paz. We were back in the water on Monday Dec 18 and spent one night in the marina Fonatur. It's an okay marina but way far away from the old town and back a very narrow and shallow channel. We did manage to get out at low tide on Tue afternoon, but did run aground twice. We ran aground again trying to get across the sand bar between La Paz and the Magote. Those of you who have been in La Paz know the difficulties of the Bahia de La Paz. We tied Kievit up to the new dock being installed in the old virtual marina. One floating dock is in place and a break water to the north is about one-half built. There is no water or electricity yet. It's an okay place on a nice day; just a bit closer to the old town than the other marinas. I said it was okay on a nice day; however, it's not a nice day. A strong north wind stated blowing at 1:00 a.m. and it is supposed to continue through Christmas day. It's blowing about 30 Km/hr now and is supposed to get worse this afternoon, then die down slowly through Sat and Sun. The waves are large enough to splash up on the dock and the boat is rocking and rolling. It's no place for anyone with a queasy stomach. We wore through one dock line due to the constant up-down back and forth motion of the boat causing friction in the line. Now we have chaff guards (old pieces of fire hose) on the ware points of the lines and I think we will be safe, but will have to check the lines every hour or so.
Kievit was in pretty good shape when we got her in the water. All the electronic systems seem to work fine as did all other systems except the refrigeration. I tried to fix it without success. We have called someone in the sailing fleet who works on refrigeration. He was supposed to show up each of the last two days, but was too busy on other jobs. Now the weather is too bad for him to get on the boat.
Marj and I now plan to be in La Paz at least until the middle of next week. Some of the Stockton Sailing Club members (Lori Warner and Wally Fort and David and Carolyn Cammack are supposed to arrive in La Paz next week so we might stick around long enough to say hello to them. Moving on also depends on a weather break and getting the refrigeration fixed. It's hard to carry both beer and ice each time I go to the store.
Merry Christmas to all.