4-20-19
I often find it harder to start writing after I have “played
hooky” for a while. More out of
embarrassment that I haven’t kept up than anything else (kind of like slipping
on a weight loss resolution and then getting back into it). My official excuse is that we kept hanging
around La Paz and nothing much happened but that really isn’t true at all. In any case all I can say is, “blog on!!”
First in the way of closing some stories from the previous
chapter:
I flew back up to Seattle for my younger
brother, Tim’s, memorial service the beginning of March. It was a lovely
service with an SRO crowd in the church he and our family had attended for many
years. It kept making me feel a bit off balance when someone would introduce
themselves who I hadn’t seen since they were Tim’s playmates in junior high
school and they were suddenly middle aged.
It’s very clear that he had made an impression on a LOT of the kids he
was in school with and been on sports teams with and that he had kept in touch
with them in various ways. We were initially very upset that we had to delay the
service because of the snowstorm but in hindsight it really was better as we
all a bit more time to absorb the shock of his death. As we work through his affairs we learn more
and more about his life as an adult after he pulled away from our family
somewhat. He will always be missed by
many more people than I had ever realized.
Frequently we have to just say,
“It’s Mexico” when we hit a cultural barrier we don’t expect and that is
exactly what happened with the Esparanza school. We found out that our $US 1200 check had been
accepted by the local bank who had to send it on to their Mexico City
headquarters because it was “such a large amount” (we suspect anti money laundering
rules may be part of the reason). The
headquarters said they would take a $US 300 fee!!!! to cash the check at which
time the local Rotary in La Paz demanded that the check be returned as they
could not see ¼ of the donated money go to overhead in good conscience. On further review they learned that if
instead we had donated two $600 checks they would be cashed without a fee so
the original check was torn up and we wrote two $600 checks which were promptly
cashed without problem. The next issue was
that friends we had known in Snohomish (now living in Florida) and staunch
Rotarians had offered to match our contribution and we had hand carried a $1200
check from them which we now knew would not clear without a ridiculous (“It’s
Mexico”) fee. We contacted them and they
agreed that if we tore up the original check they would send down two $600
checks with Carol and Charles who were going to see a new grandchild in the
States. NOW the good news: We received
word that the national Rotary agreed to add $US 1000 to the pot and work has
resumed on the school. It is expected to
be completed in time for the next term!
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| Stucco is added over the rough block walls |
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| Pipes are laid to the sewer tank |
A lot of what happened since the past note was we continued
to explore the islands, remote anchorages and villages north of La Paz so we could
make the highly anticipated visit of our grandson, Etienne, and his mother
Elise’s visit as enjoyable and varied as possible.
When I returned to La Paz from Tim's memorial service Mardi Gras was in full swing. A parade runs first from one end of the Malecon to the other then the next night it goes the opposite direction and on Tuesday night it turns around and heads back for a final (almost) hurrah. The final hurrah occurs the following week when the same floats are filled with children for the Children's Parade.
YouTube of La Paz parades (low resolution)
On one of my previous arrivals into the airport in San Jose
Del Cabo I had taken photos of the maze one has to transit in order to get from
the plane to the La Paz shuttle. This
includes going through a room filled with hundreds of people waiting to check
in with immigration which itself takes only a couple of minutes. The airport is rapidly expanding but
currently experiencing severe overload in the early afternoon when planes are
parked out on the tarmac and visitors shuttled in and out on busses. Once through immigration you pick up your
baggage and after letting the customs officer know if you have tobacco or
liquor to declare. If the answer is “no”
then you are instructed to push a button and if you get a green light (so far
we have only gotten green lights – knock on wood) then you are free to enter
Mexico. BUT first you have to pass two
rooms full of taxi and shuttle drivers who are all trying to convince you that
you are going the wrong way and that you really would be better to use their
services. Once past the gauntlet of
shuttle drivers you exit the building and move on to looking for the correct
shuttle company representative under the VERY crowded “umbrellas” (AKA
awnings). The company we use to go
between La Paz and the airport has an agent with a sign under umbrella 5. Once you find the agent the world gets better
as he speaks excellent English and has the ability to put you on an earlier
shuttle if you get out in time or a later shuttle if you got out later than you
had planned (both of which have happened to us). Elise and Etienne arrived at a very busy time
but using our guide photos and getting a green light they were able to get to
the shuttle an hour before we expected and were put on an earlier bus which
made everyone happy.
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| Immigration waiting area La Paz airport |
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| "Umbrellas" |
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| La Paz shuttle representative |
Etienne’s high school Spanish class has an extra credit
opportunity for students who visit a Spanish speaking culture during the term
and so we had planned to give him as many cultural learning opportunities as
well as amazing scenery opportunities as possible during his stay.
Once off the shuttle van he and his mother
were immediately swallowed up in a holiday crowd as there was a huge bike race
being staged down main street in front of the bus station.
We then walked to the boat and deposited
luggage before heading to a restaurant at the head of the dock for dinner.
I instructed the waitress that Etienne was in
school for Spanish and if he didn’t order is Spanish without help he would not
get fed.
She laughed and helped with his
learning experience.
I have to say he
immediately demonstrated that he has learned a lot in his Spanish lessons and
continued to help us with translation throughout his visit!
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| Etienne and Elise |
The winds were cooperative while they visited so after
spending two days introducing them to “big city” La Paz making sure we visited
everything from the street vendors to the bigger stores as well as the Gringo
community, we headed out to the islands but not before we paid a tour operator
to take us snorkeling with whale sharks.
For the past couple of years whale sharks have chosen to bear their
young in the waters just outside of the peninsula that protects La Paz
Harbor.
The locals have instituted a
very strict plan for snorkeling with the juveniles which requires that you ride
on a licensed guide boat.
We were able
to swim with two of the fish (whale sharks are the largest fish (NOT
whales/mammals)and filter feed from the plankton rich waters).
We all decided that the experience was well
worth the costs and tipped the guides well after they went out of their way to
help water-timid Etienne have a great experience.
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| Swimming with whale shark |
On our way to the islands Elise was totally delighted when a
pod of dolphins swan a couple of feet from our bow long enough for her to catch
a video of them.
We visited a number of
our favorite anchorages and made it as far north as tiny fishing village of San
Evaristo where Etienne could get a chance to be immersed in rural Mexican
culture for a short time. After a week that went very quickly we waved good bye
as they headed back to the airport on the shuttle van so they could return to
the clouds and rain of Portland Oregon.
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Elise in her favorite spot on the boat |
We had planned to head out as soon as they left but
recognizing we needed a few days to provision and upon learning that the
cruisers’ club would do their annual Bay Fest the next week, we stayed on in La
Paz for a few more days.
We also were
taken up on our offer to do a presentation on cruising to and in Alaska which
was well received.
We will post the link
to the PowerPoint program here
http://ncgregory.larper.com/Chapter-Pages/Cruising%20to%20and%20in%20Alaska.pdf
.
As I write this we have just moved north of our previous
most northern exploration within the Sea of Cortez when we pulled anchor at the
village of Agua Verde this morning. We
have “joined” an informal group of friends that have gotten to know each other
as we move along. Tom, Sandi and kids we
met when we moored directly off of their bow on the way south in the port of
Dana Point only to learn that Tom is a Physician’s Assistant who had practiced
at the same hospital where I worked as an RN (we were both there at the same
time but don’t recall meeting previously).
We met 9 year old twins “Isle” (pronounced with a silent s, as she is
quick to point out) and Lily on the dock and at the cruisers’ club in La Paz
and they live aboard the boat Saare Lill which translates into “flower island”
so it is named after the girls. Habe
Hoba and Habe Hoba II are slowly working their way north as well where they
hope to sell Habe Hoba which has been their home for the past three years but
is now protesting the plan with engine breakdowns and other maritime
pouting. In any case we have lots of
time to get to our eventual goal at the very north end of the Sea so instead of
staying for a night at most in an anchorage we are often staying for several
days and taking time to explore.
Our explorations include diving in ever increasingly
beautiful dive sites, visiting the villages and trails on shore, and taking
time to watch a whale shark swim around the bay collecting its diet of
plankton. As we move north the islands
are becoming more common and the Baja mountains steeper and more scenic. All we can say is that everyone who has been
north in the Sea reports it is “amazing”.
Clarice here – I decided to add a
little entry to this latest update. We’ve worked hard on keeping the bottom of
the boat clean as the sea growth occurs quickly in these southern waters. Also
realized one of our Ultrasonic hull cleaner transducers had separated and thus
was not performing. We’ve reattached it and will see if it helps keep the
“garden” on the keel cooler a little less abundant.
Norman taught me how to splice
Dyneema so that makes me pretty happy. We realized we needed to replace the
straps on the sling we use to lift the dinghy to the upper deck when one
decided to break abruptly ( not while raising thank goodness) and another one
was almost cut through one layer. We made a nice Dyneema hoist system so hoping
that will last a little better.
We’ve done a lot of “work” dives on
the bottom of the boat, but now we are doing some fun dives. We went to a
pinnacle outside of Agua Verde and dove while a friend tried to spear fish. We
stayed around 35 to 40 feet and saw huge schools of fish – Beautiful Cortez
Angel Fish, Sargent Majors, Parrot Fish, Cortez rainbow wrasse and multiple
others. Circled the whole pinnacle and it was beautiful. The coral is present,
but bleaching. Multiple fans were present as well.
Fresh fruit and fresh variety of
produce is becoming more difficult to find in the fishing villages. I’m working
to be creative with the meals to keep from eating getting boring.
Jarvis has decided he is going to
be highly anxious when we run the generator or wing engine. He doesn’t like rolly
anchorages, but then neither do we. He also gets stressed out when we get the
dive gear set up…some of these are new anxieties, but we’ve noticed his age is
showing more and more. He appears to have some arthritis in his hips and
aspirin helps that.
It’s getting more and more remote
as we venture farther north. The water is sort of warming up, finally. Love the
clarity of the water – it’s fun to be able to check your anchor from the
surface.
Just some final notes on how things are going after nearly 6
months in sun and warm water:
Clarice already commented on Jarvis
getting more nervous with engine noise and boat movement. I think he dislikes rocky anchorages even
more than I do. We have also purchased rubber
shoes for him to see if we can reduce the number of burrs he picks up and other
injuries to his foot pads from sharp rocks and shells when we take hikes. Finally we have not yet tried his new carry
sling but since he is very eager to go hiking with us but sometimes tires out
and needs to be carried home we are hoping it will help.
Clarice also mentioned our bottom
cleaning woes. In the Pacific Northwest
and Alaska we would clean the bottom of the boat every 2 – 3 months whereas in
these warmer waters we need to do it every couple of weeks. We are learning to stay ahead of the harder to
remove growths by checking places where the growth starts frequently while a
brush with a dive glove is enough to disrupt the growing garden patch (any
unpainted metal fittings such as intake ports, keel cooler and propellers seem
to be the quickest to start showing growth on them). Our new favorite tools for removing the scum
that develops on the hull is a pair of stainless sheetrock knives from Home
Depot. The scum peels off in sheets but
releases hundreds of krill into the water that seem to be attracted to our wet
suits for some reason.
We have read that in this part of
the world your water maker will become one of your most used appliances and we
are finding this to be true. Ours
requires that we be connected to shore power at a dock or running the
generator. At 25 gallons an hour we seem
to need to run it for a couple of hours every few days. Our sailboat friends can’t imagine using that
much fresh water but since we have fresh water flush toilets, fresh water
showers, rinse the anchor chain with fresh water, etc. we use a lot that we don’t have to in
survival mode but once again we remind ourselves that we chose to make this our
house rather than “long term camper”.
Most marinas don’t guarantee their water is safe to drink so even
sitting at the dock we fill our tanks from our water maker. Our other choice is to fill the tanks and add
a tiny amount of bleach but chlorine is a threat to the water maker membranes
and we have gotten used to the very pure taste of the water we produce
ourselves. We are concerned about the
age of our water maker and have replaced and upgraded a number of parts
already. The good news is that it is
made up of parts scattered under our bed rather than a single unit so we can
replace and upgrade pieces more easily.
The bad news is that when it was built the membranes that are the heart
of reverse osmosis water makers were all priority to each manufacturer whereas
the new ones are more generic. We
believe our membranes were last replaced in 2009 which makes them about 10
years old and beyond their expected life span.
Replacing the membranes will mean we need to change the high pressure
vessels to ones of standard size and this one-time costs is about $1000 total
for the two vessels we will also need two membranes at about $200 each.
We are also starting to see how
quickly fabrics and ropes fade and deteriorate from sun and constant
motion. I’ve also joked about trying to
make money selling sea salt made at sea by scraping the layer of salt that
coats everything whenever we transit rough water. This is especially frustrating for Clarice
who takes any substance other than boat wax on the hull to be a personal affront
and requires scarce fresh water to make it completely go away.
Overall we are loving the
weather. Virtually every day is sunny
with temperatures in the 80s. We are
both quite tanned and getting used to wearing wide brimmed hats, avoiding
walking in the heat of the day, and drinking a lot of fluids.
Since we seem to have reasonable internet here in Puerto
Escondido we will stop at this point and get this posted.
