We awakened early for our last day of work before leaving. We hosted our zarpe health inspector, and our agent, as they came by for the "health inspection". The health inspector sat in the cockpit and asked if we had insects aboard. No? He completed some paperwork and left. That'll be US$100, please. Sigh.

We opened the whisker pole tube to find….a usable, ready to go whisker pole?

No.

We found a whisker pole from which someone, somewhere, some time, had removed an end fitting. I am not kidding you. So, after all the waiting, huge expense, we have no usable pole. I'll try to fabricate something for use when we get out of town. West Marine and Forespar are now fighting about who's responsible. Sigh.

Ah, the zarpe. Conni goes to pay for it. It's ready. Destination? Tahiti?

No.

San Diego. San Diego? Have any of us EVER mentioned San Diego? No. We'll try to have that sorted before we leave.

Oh, yeah…the freshwater pump failed today. Replacement is US$240 here in La Paz. The thing has worked flawlessly for many years and it failed today. I suppose the silver lining attitude is that it's better here than somewhere in the South Pacific where we'd never get a replacement.

It's been an expensive and frustrating day!

Results of the day:

The zarpe was changed to Tahiti. The zarpe was hand delivered to us with my name forged on the document swearing that the REAL destination was always Tahiti. Works for me.

We bought a new freshwater pump and I installed it, and got the wiring straight. So, what's the word on our freshwater pump? It wasn't the pump! When it didn't work, I did check the voltage to the pump, but it showed 13 V at the pump. The problem? Bad wires that I replaced. It's much quieter than the old one and we have a spare.

The missing whisker pole end might be available for me to install in Cabo. We'll wait until tomorrow to find out whether Forespar will spring for the dollars to ship it.

This is our last night in La Paz. The next two will be in coves between here in Cabo San Lucas. We're about to start.

To all of you who have sent us good wishes, thank you. As we head off, you cannot know how it feels to take such wishes with us.