Arrived in La Paz

Saturday, 3 Jan 2009
We are finally at sea and headed south. We have departed an overnight anchorage at Agua Verde and are headed towards La Paz. The wind is on the nose so we are powering and making good 6 kts at 1680 rpm.
We departed San Carlos mid morning on the first of January after spending the evening with friends at the Captain’s Club. Out of 5 couples at our table only 2 made it to midnight. The cruiser’s midnight of 2100 was obviously well ingrained. We were ready to depart. All preps were completed and we had bid farewell to everyone the night before. Julie (Sea Fire) cast off our lines while Rosie cast longing looks at the shore and at her pal Cortez. Trish (Ka-Em-Te) waved from her boat as we slipped along the moored boats and headed out of the marina. On the way out we passed Daydream, with Wayne and Susan from Ladysmith. They will be heading for the Marquesas this season.
Once out of the harbour we were met by light easterly winds and a 2-3 foot swell from the southwest but after an hour the wind veered to the SSW and freshened to 15-18 kts. We were able to sail all day and night under genoa, main and mizzen with the wind abaft the beam. Mid afternoon we had a strike on the fishing line and brought in a nice 8-10 lb Dorado. We have enough for 4-5 meals thanks to the freezer we had installed in Guaymas. By sunrise we were east of Isla Carmen and by 9AM the wind died. We continued under power to Agua Verde, one of our favourite anchorages and joined 2 other boats for a quiet night. Sometime after 2am Fran summoned me up on deck to see the phosphorescence produced by schools of bait fish and larger fish feeding on them, a beautiful sight and a reminder of the reasons we are here. The windlass completed its first official task and performed flawlessly.
After settling into the anchorage last night we tried to connect up to the WINLINK system (E-mail by HF/SSB radio) but found a broken plug at the back of the modem. It took several hours for J-G to do a temporary fix by soldering the wires back onto the DIN plug. We finally got it operating and got out a few e-mails and our first WINLINK position report. We will try to be more regular with these so that you can follow our track on the WINLINK site. Boats are identified by radio call signs. Ours is VE7JGN .
Sunday 4, Jan
We are anchored in San Evaristo Bay, about 55 miles from La Paz. We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a motor-sail down from Agua Verde due to light winds. We had initially intended on anchoring at Isla San Francisco but the anchorage is fully exposed to the westerly wind that has established itself during the afternoon. Our decision proved a wise one. By 1 AM the wind had risen to 25 kts for the remainder of the night. Our fearl of dragging made it a sleepless night but the anchor held firm and the Nobletech anchor aid showed a tight drift pattern of less than 40 yards. By the time we woke up it was too late to attempt the last leg to La Paz so we decided to lay up here for another day.
This morning several boats departed but one in particular raised J-G’s interest. There was something familiar about the name Om Shanti, a Westsail 32 that had been anchored just beside us. He didn’t realise until they disappeared around the headland that this was the boat owned by the couple who had written the newest cruising guide to the Sea of Cortez and who we had purchased our copy from at the Blue water cruiser’s meeting last October.
We have spent a nice quiet day relaxing and attending to minor odds and ends. We also met Ken and Patty Starr, two retired teachers from Powell River, aboard Red Pepper. By sundown the bay filled up with another bunch of boats seeking shelter from the westerlies predicted overnight. Tomorrow we expect to have the northerlies fill in so our trip to La Paz should be a comfortable one.
Monday, 5 January 2009
We completed our transit to La Paz today. We departed at 7:30 into a freshening northerly wind. We were able to make over 7 kts but needed the engine and sails to get us in by 3PM. We were greeted at the dock at Marina Palmira by our friends Bill and Linda (Tanque de Tiburon) who had been expecting us for the past few weeks. While we were checking in we spotted Kirk (Freedom Kirkland), our prairie farmer from Kirkland Alberta, wandering along the docks. Rosie was overjoyed of having solid land under her feet and she didn’t stop thanking us for the remainder of the afternoon.
This is a wonderful facility and we will stay for a few days before heading south again but we will certainly return here in April on our way back north.