La Paz

Welcome aboard Amigos!
We are currently at Marina Palmira in sunny …let me say that again…SUNNY La Paz, Mexico. It’s time to give Windfall a good scrubbing and remove all the salt crust forming on everything. It’s amazing just how much salt accumulates everything during a passage.
We checked by radio with the “La Paz Puerto Capitana.” It was very easy… name of boat, what marina or anchorage, and how many people aboard…it took less than 3 minutes. The marina copies your boat documentation, passports, etc… it was very easy with the helpful and friendly marina staff. Free shuttle to town 3 times daily, walk, or a taxi is $5 each way (town is about 2 miles from this marina).
Yesterday Nancy and I hired a taxi to shop for much needed groceries and marine parts. Our driver was Jesus…no not “Jesus” – his name is pronounced “Hay-zuse” who spoke little English, but we easily managed to get everywhere needed. We stopped at Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and Walmart for groceries. I must say the stores here are VERY clean, the meats, fish, and produce look wonderful – we even bought apples from Washington State that look better here than in the Portland stores! We bought fresh baked bread for an evening candlelight dinner served in the cockpit; it was so good with fresh roasted garlic butter it melted in our mouths…Yum!
Nancy hired a friendly lady to do laundry; she comes to the boat each morning. If we did the laundry, the marina washer/driers cost $1.50 US dollars each and would have cost us $15 total. The woman charged $18 dollars for all 5 loads washed, dried, and folded neatly - including pick up and delivery to the boat….all in about 3 hours!
Thanksgiving is in a couple days, Ben (our crew) will be returning back to Portland and to that good old Oregon weather. I give Ben the Portland weather reports every chance I can!
We have plans of spending Thanksgiving shared with friends here in the marina….and of course with “too much food” as always. We’ll be looking in Mom’s recipe book for something special to serve…sounds like another trip to Walmart! Ha
Sunday Nov 28th – Thanksgiving was great. Ben caught a plane for Portland (emailed to say it is COLD!). Sad to see Ben leave, but he may show up later in our adventure. Currently, we are spending a few more days here in La Paz, a couple days of high winds (30 knots +) are expected and make choppy seas. So we decided it best to spend a few more days enjoying La Paz. We talked with a local who said it has not rained in TWO YEARS in La Paz! (The average rainfall is 1 inch!)
Nancy and I have been riding our folding bicycles, touring the town of La Paz, and enjoying cold beer at a local cantina we favor. Nancy shopped a couple fabric stores and was amazed with the great prices…the most expensive fabric was only $11 per Meter, and most in the $2.50 range. She is looking for Sunbrella fabric to make a new sail cover for our main sail….I’m glad they didn’t have it so I didn’t have to pack that heavy load on my bike! Whew! That was a close one! Ha
December 1st – Our Anniversary! Tomorrow we begin our trip for Mazatlan, we decided to forego the 120 mile trip (further north) to Loreto, it would take too much time as we are to meet Denielle and Jeff her new (soon to be) husband in Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa on December 23rd (I had to look those up how to spell!). These cities are about 20 miles north of Acapulco…which is also on our list.
Butch and Susan’s son, Joe, is flying back home to Portland today. We’ve had a great time with Joe, it’s sad to see him leaving. Tonight, Nancy and I are enjoying a nice candle light dinner aboard Windfall. Later we’ll have cocktails with several friends aboard and enjoy our last evening in La Paz before leaving tomorrow morning. Our plan is to stop 40 miles south at Muertos (again), spend the night, and then set our course for Mazatlan – about a 27 hour sail. “Navigator Nancy” figures we have over 880 miles…correction…830 miles to sail, so it looks like we’re back to the “cruising mode” here aboard Windfall.
We’ve enjoyed the wonderful hospitality and friendly people of La Paz.

Adios for now!