La Paz
04/02/15

The wind was howling on our first morning in La Paz, so it was cool as I enjoyed my coffee. I sat on Greg's boat Scout, because mine was too dirty to sit on, as I had not yet cleaned it. That is usually the first task when arriving after being away. I don't know where the dirt and dust come from, but they must be scrubbed away, which I accomplished with Greg's help. I installed a couple of new LED lights in the galley that I had brought with me, and completed other minor projects. I ended up going shopping with Liz and Greg (Liz has a car), and then out to dinner at my favorite place, Rancho Viejo. We all needed an early night.

04/03/15
I awoke early and started making plans to climb up the mast. I had two projects at the very top, about 50' up, and two projects halfway up, at the spreaders. I rigged my climbing stuff and gathered all the tools and parts that I thought I might need, and started raising myself up. Greg was next door and keeping an eye on me, and he ended up helping pull me up when I got tired about half way up. Man am I out of shape! When I reached the top of the mast I removed my wind sensor, which had gotten savaged by Hurricane Odile, and no longer worked. While I was up there I removed the old anchor light and replaced it with a brighter LED light, which uses about 1/10 of the electricity. On the way down I installed a proper flag halyard with new line and a pulley. I removed the radar reflector and installed new attachment points above the spreaders. I will re-install it tomorrow in its new location. Back on deck I installed a new longer line the rolls up the forward sail. That was quite the operation. The weather was in the 90s the whole time, so rehydrating was important.

I took my bicycle to try to find a boat-parts store. No luck, as it is a holiday week, Semana Santa. So I hit the big market for some items I missed yesterday. Back at the boat I tried to put away all the tools and parts that I had scattered around. Went next door to Scout for a couple of beers to cool off. I ate on board, and called it an early night. Seems like a pattern is developing with these early nights.

04/04/15
A cool morning, so after coffee I went back up the mast for the last time on this trip. I needed to secure the radar reflector in a new location above the spreader, since I used its previous location for the new flag halyard yesterday. Once I got up there, the breeze died and it became warm and still. So there I was, hanging 30' above the boat sweating like a pig! I finally completed my task and lowered myself down. Next, I put white contact paper on the dark plastic sliding doors in the galley. It really brightens things up. I decided to do laundry, using my bucket and plunger. Pretty soon Odyssey looked like a clothes line, with shirts and shorts hanging all over.

I went for a paddle in the afternoon in an attempt to cool off. I jumped into the water in the main channel of the bay, which was nice at about 75 degrees. Afterwards, I headed over to Scout for a cocktail. One of Greg's friends dropped by, Frank, from the boat Dream Catcher. We all ended up going to dinner across the street at El Cayuco, which had a BBQ rib special going on. They also had a 2 for 1 drink special! The food was great and it was another early night.