LA PAZ
COLORADO
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LA PAZ January to May, 2007 • MARINA PALMIRA ◊ The Art Incident • LA PAZ • TECOLOTE • TODOS SANTOS • A VISIT FROM THE KIDS January to May, 2008 • THE MARINA OBSERVED |
N 24° 6'
W 110° 12'
MARINA PALMIRAWe took a slip in Marina Palmira, where we had chartered a Moorings boat in 1996, along with our good friend Steve Morrell and his wife. We really like this marina, it's just 2 kilometers from the center of town, out along the Malecon. There are two good restaurants and two bars, a chandlery, and a tienda; the staff are all friendly and the place is clean and quiet, except around Lucy the goose.
Marley didn't seem to like Lucy much but never actually got close enough for a decision.
Our slip was at the end of number 4 Dock; the occasional jumboat sloshing around nearby made it seem like close quarters out there, but most of the time we were quite comfortable.
When we first got there in January the dock parties were all on dock 3 but with the arrival of Captain Mac aboard Venture Forth the party honors passed to dock 4 and stayed there all winter.
Better party technology attracts a crowd every time.
Most days on dock 4 were pretty slow, a few people did a bit of work, but not much.
Well, apart from the 3 engine rebuilds and the recommissioning.
The view from our slip was pretty good, when there was no jumboat on the end tie, at high tide we could see waves breaking on the sandbar outside the channel.
And there were the glorious, gleaming, never ending sunsets of La Paz.
The Art Incident
Art was a sea lion who came for a visit one morning in March.
We first saw him way over on the end of 5 dock.
Then he came swimming towards our dock.
What is it Chen?
Wow, that's a Sea Lion, a big one.
He's coming aboard. Yup, that's our boat right there.
How did we know his name was Art? We asked him, and that's what he said, "Art, Art."
LA PAZ
We walked around, getting to know La Paz again; it is a lovely town, the state capital of Baja California Sur, its been there since 1535. We found our friend the Happy Shrimp in a new location, he'd been moved from the restaurant near the Hotel Los Arcos, and now lives halfway out to Palmira.
There is a 100 foot cell tower disguised as a palm tree downtown by the Marina de La Paz now.
John's hip was hurting so bad he couldn't walk very far between bars, and he was darn grumpy most of the time.
Get over it John!
TECOLOTE
Ron and Beryl Seabourn had rented a car so we all drove out to Tecolote, up the peninsula, on the San Lorenzo channel, you can see Isla Espiritu Santo just across the channel. We partied on the beach in exactly the same spot we'd been 10 years earlier. Same restaurant, same chairs, same waiter, I think, different prices.
Tecolote is popular with gringos and Mexicans, always an excellent thing in our view, the marinas generally being so gringo-ish.
We tipped well.
TODOS SANTOS
A semi-funky little artists' colony on the coast, Todos Santos is on the road to Cabo San Lucas, where we went to pick up & drop off the kids at the airport. Its where you'll find the legendary Hotel California. On the way back we stopped at the hotel for a drink but we didn't check in.
I can still hear that tune …
A VISIT FROM THE KIDS
Young Aidan Thomas Murray brought his mother, his father, and his aunt to see us.
Tom and Tracy are having a wonderful time being parents. Judy is quite happy being a grandmother, John's not so sure about being a grandfather, maybe a grumpa.
Tiffany is doing really well, working hard, all over the country, and she certainly knows how to relax.
The kids could only stay for a few days so we didn't take them out sailing, and that was probably a good thing.
It felt good to have the family all together with us again.
♥ Our friends Mick and Sharon from Mammoth also came to see us in La Paz, they stayed for more than a week but we didn't get any pictures of them, so there is absolutely no evidence that they were there.
January to whenever, 2008
• THE MARINA OBSERVED
January 11, 2008John's been putting on a bit of weight, and what with his bad hip he has to slim down; so we got a bicycle. A Chinese chromium beauty, one-speed, for maleconeando. The decals on it say 'Marsstar' so I thought it was imported from Mars, but the tires say Hang Zhou Rubber Factory.
January 26, 2008
Interesting things happen in a marina, this week we saw the jumboat that has everything, a charitable pirate ship, and an expensive founder.
⇐ The boat that has everything
The jumboat is M/Y Silverado, on the Dock 4 end tie, and yes, that is a roto-tiller hanging from the crane. John's theory is that its for fluffing up beaches before the guests go ashore. M/Y Silverado spends a lot of time at Marina Palmira, rumor has it that one of the co-owners is Conrad Hilton, so we've been expecting to see Paris …
⇒ A Charitable Pirate Ship
This ketch is actor John Amos' S/V Halley's Comet; he keeps it here in Marina Palmira. Halley's Comet is the flagship of the Halley's Comet Foundation, it looks like a lot of fun.
⇓ Another one bites the mud
According to the owner's brother this is (was) a very expensive sport fisher, a US$400,000 38 foot Black Marlin. The owner said he would not move it until he found out whose fault it was.
It took eight bosses and two divers to raise the boat.
Projects took so much time that we didn't clear La Paz until June 15th this year, the date by which our boat insurance said we should be north of latitude 27° north.
We had to make a couple of phone calls to sort things out but our insurer was happy to issue a more expensive policy.
SAN CARLOS
8:00 AM 8/31/2007 TS Henriette 15.3N 99.3W 300 @ 9k 16.9N 102W 8:05 AM 9/1/2007 TS Henriette 1500Z 17.8N 103W 295 @ 10K 8:15 AM 9/3/2007 TS Henriette 19.9N 108.5W 310 @ 10 2:06 PM 9/3/2007 TS Henriette 2100 20.1n 108.5w 315 5k on track per models here ~1700 Thursday 8:20 AM 9/4/2007 Hurricane Henriette 22.2N 109.4N 335 9k due here tomorrow. 2:49 PM 9/4/2007 Hurricane Henriette 23.1N 109.6W 345 @ 9K 36 Hours 28.4N 110.6W 12:05 PM 9/5/2007 11:00 Local time advisory Hurricane Henriette 26.6N 110.1W 5:30 PM Ashore at Empalme 15 miles from Marina Real
N 27° 30'
W 111°
MARINA REAL
San Carlos, Sonora,
June — November '07
• Hurricane Henriette
• Daily life
• Neighbors & friends
July — October '08
Convalescence
Major surgery for John
November '08 — Spring '09
Back on the water but
still at the dock
September - October '09
Hurricane Jimena
A natural disaster
Nothing much happens here in the summer unless there's a hurricane. We spend most of the time hiding from the 100° heat and the intense sun. It helps to have the air conditioning; without it we couldn't survive the hot weather. The weather starts to cool down in October and we begin making ready for sea again.
Hurricane Henriette came through in early September, 2007 finally going ashore & breaking up just south of here at Empalme. Of course, Judy had gone north to Colorado to see the kids and do some grandma duty, and missed the whole thing. I made storm preparations by taking down the jib and all canvas, parcelling the boom down to the coachroof, and put out the heavy (7/8" nylon) mooring lines. I tracked Henriette on the internet and radio net for 5 days.
On Wednesday, September 5 we had continuous north winds of 35 to 40 knots in the marina, gusting to 50+, a storm surge of 3 feet, and rain all day. I sat in the boat, going outside occasionally to check lines & neighbor's boats; I got soaked every time. By 7:00 PM that day it was all over, the winds died, the rain stopped and the skies cleared.
I heard of no damage to any boat in Marina Real and, apart from some minor flooding and a few downed palm trees, San Carlos weathered the storm intact.
DAILY LIFE
Chen kills a soccer ball. Good boy.
The old dog has been doing really well, he gets a bit sore after strenuous walking or swimming but then, so do I. He has fallen off the dock a couple of times, he fell under the boat in the next slip once and came up with a blue, bottom paint stripe along his back. He rests a lot, poops enthusiastically almost on command, and adores his mummy.
As we prepared to go south this fall we loaded & stowed 80 pounds of dog food for him.
We had several unusual, foggy days this fall; the warm, southern winds set up a marine layer as they come across the cooler waters off San Carlos. Visibility gets down to less than 400 yards. Another good reason to get radar.
That's a classic, Columbia yacht in the slip behind us.
Boats get hauled in & out of the water almost every day at the marina, here's Venture Forth in the parking lot for an out-of-the-water survey. Captain Mac and Admiral Carole Baade own Venture Forth, a large Nordhaven trawler with an apparently unlimited beer supply.
We had the hull waxed, had our bottom cleaned, and cleared and cleaned the decks before stowing the rail fuel and the dinghy on deck in preparation for crossing back to the Baja.
Judy's looking good, as usual, and Chen, as always, is enthusiastic.
NEIGHBORS & FRIENDS
Dennis Stenslin's 1984 C36 Spirit of Silverton joins us in the next slip: twins!
Our dock has barely enough room for two Catalina 36s, close quarters for sailboats!
Spirit's skipper and crew: Dennis and Kelly.
I knew Dennis from my days on the fire department back in Durango, he comes down to San Carlos every year or so, he's had a different girl friend each time.
Here are our friends Sally and Dave from Hopalong.
An even more motley crew at the Soggy Peso: (from the left) Freda, Carla, haven't a clue, don't know, don't know, forgot, Denny, and what's his name.
That I may recover my strength
Before I go hence
And be no more seen
SOME TIME ASHORE
John had his right hip replaced in July, 2008 so we rented a couple of houses for his convalescence, one for 3 months, and another one for a month.Both houses were in the Vista Hermosa section of town; here's what John says:
2009
There are plenty of parking spaces here now, several boats left this week, all heading south; one reported reaching Puerto Escondido in 25 hours. The rest, we presume, are all safe.
A few people arrived from the states, they won't be here long, they'll be sailing south soon too.
We had rain on a few days earlier in the week, just enough to rinse the boats and the docks. There's been lots of activity among the small pleasure fishing fleet this weekend, folks are enjoying the calm conditions.
The Never Ending Construction Company is working on the new concrete parking lot behind the office, it is almost finished and its in daily use. To their great joy the construction crew caught a couple of squid in the marina.
We have only one, small party to report, there were no incidents. We ain't misbehavin' at Marina Real this week.
Seen on the docks this week: Wilfred Brimley, Ernest Hemingway, and Jabba the Hut.
that is all
The loyal, old sea dog Chen has been having a few sick days, we have been nursing him and he's come back, his great, goofy self, a couple of times this winter.
Judy's remarkably happy considering. She's exercising herself, playing cards with the ladies, learning more about the boat and its upkeep and repair. John has had to rely on her so much the last six months and she's happily taken to single-handing a life for two. Love that girl.
It really is beautiful at Marina Real.
The evening sun lights the spectacular scenery and fills the sea with sky.
We see the same thing, day after day, yet its still lovely, still changing, still the same.
The weather's good, the weather's not so good; sometimes its warm, sometimes its a little cool, its always lovely.
We have a few people around, lots of birds and fish. Some of the seabirds are in breeding plumage, fancy colors and bright patterns.
I've been trying to catch the splendor and variety of life here, I got a new cardboard camera, it takes remarkable pictures
Most days are quiet, peaceful, we have a bit of fun, and my daily visits to the gym are starting to bring results. I'm still healing so these days are good for me.
Some mornings are colorful, some are not.
Some evenings are calm, some cool, and some are windy. It is lovely here almost all of the time.
Hurricane Jimena
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
Departed Denver 09:34 on I-25 south, weather overcast, some rain. Pike's peak invisible behind low-lying cloud. After a pleasant 430 mile drive via Raton Pass, Las Vegas NM, and Santa Fe, arrived Albuquerque around 18:00, where we dined with our artist friend Ken Saville. Good to see him, raddled as he is by medical and aesthetic issues.
Monday, August 31st, 2009
Breakfast, ironically, at Hurricanes Restaurant & Drive In on Lomas. Departed Albuquerque 10:30, again on I-25 south, weather clear and hot, some wind from the SW. Drove all day, via Hatch and the Demming cutoff to I-10 west. Arrived Tucson about 18:00.
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
A rest day, some shopping, repacking the truck, checking the tropical weather; Hurricane Jimena (4) threatening the Baja. Tropical Storm warning for the Mexican mainland north of Matzatlan, on the lower Sea of Cortez. Tucson weather partly cloudy, scattered thundershowers.
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Departed Tucson 09:15 for Nogales and San Carlos. Weather overcast, wind from the S & SSE, no rain. Cleared Adauana (customs) & Inmigracion (immigration), proceeded south along M-15. Arrived San Carlos about 17:30. Weather overcast, warm, some rain, wind from the south.
Spoke Don & Denny who were anxiously observing the boats moored in the Bahia. They told us the weather would continue to deteriorate until about 11:00 PM and then improve. We had seen spectacular surf along the seafront as we'd arrived in San Carlos. We went in to Marina Real, checked Pegasus - lines all doubled, decks clear, just as we'd left her 2 months before. We went back into SC to get a few groceries and then out to a house in Costa del Mar, a vacation development on the beach at the end of the old Catch 22 runway, beside the great sand dunes on Algodones bay; our friends had offered the place as a storm shelter. Rain and wind continued to increase.
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
The power went off at about 02:00, wind and rain increasing all night.
Dawn showed minor flooding in the street, waterfalls coming off the roof drains and, ominously, a boil of water scouring under the boundary wall along the landside of the development.
The house we're in is number 21, next door to a vacant lot, now a brisk, wide stream of water coming under the wall. Winds and rain still increasing at 11:00 AM, other friends stop by, the water in the street is now 2 to 2 1/2 feet deep, the front yard is flooded and water is seeping under the doors.
There must be 4 or 5 feet of water behind that wall.
We try sandbagging with pillow cases and kitty litter. We began picking up small items, decorations and belongings off the floors and stack them in higher cupboards. We get the dog up off the floor - onto the couch.
By noon it looks like a hurricane outside, the water continues to rise. I stuff a large onion in the truck's tailpipe. 
At about 16:00 the concrete block fence behind the lot next door collapses, the water rises rapidly outside the house and squirts in around the door above the kitty bags, becoming knee deep inside the house in a matter of minutes.
16:20 we climb out of the kitchen window clutching a bag of food, water, a bottle of tequila, and a handheld VHF radio we'd found in the guest room, and climb the steps up to the margarita deck on the roof. We huddled under a comforter, on a plastic lawn chaise, our backs to the driving rain & wind coming from the east. We are able to contact the some folks on boats back in the Marina, they say they've had gusts over 70kts, that dock fingers had broken and several boats were sunk.
Up on the roof we were soaked, absolutely soaked. After about an hour we start to get cold and, seeing that the waters were if not subsiding, at least not rising any more, we went back down the stairs. I had locked the kitchen window behind us so I waded around to the front door and sloshed it open. Helped Judy and the dog back into the kitchen where we camped on the kitchen counter while the waters slowly subsided. Note the turtled refrigerator.
We swept a great deal of water and muddy silt back out of the house.
Friday, September 4th, 2009
The water receded but the wind and rain continued with tropical storm force, all night. By morning the storm was lying down so we threw our kit into the truck and went back to the boat. It was fine, as were the half dozen or so souls who'd stayed on their boats. By evening we learn that all of the houses in Costa del Mar had been flooded, some as deep as 5 foot indoors, and that 3 houses, along the sea front, had collapsed onto the beach. San Carlos and Guaymas were disastrously flooded, having received more than 26 inches of rain in 24 hours. Tha main road into San Carlos was breached by a flooding arroyo, leaving a gap 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep across the entire, four lane boulevard. Out on Mexico highway 15 the interchange overpass at the Guaymas & San Carlos/Cd. Obregon has collapsed and broken the roadways underneath it. In San Carlos there is a new inlet from the sea now, it comes right in to the main boulevard in front of the boat storage yard, where more flooding runoff broke gates, walls, utility poles and the roadway into thrashed mounds of debris. The runoff collected many trailered boats in the storage area and piled them along the edge of the yard, and put 3 large (30' plus) motor yachts into the roadway.
From Empalme in the southeast past La Manga in the northwest, more than 20 miles of this country was running ankle deep in flooding rains: over 26 inches within 24 hours. In places where gullies or obstructions affected the waters' flow, disaster followed.
You'll find more pictures of Jimena's aftermathhere on flickr.
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Compared to others' disasters ours was minor, people's lives were disrupted, and their homes and belongings trashed. Within the last week electrical power and water supplies were restored with temporary facilities and tremendous hard work. So we are finally comfortable and reasonably clean aboard Pegasus. We have yet to get the truck de-mudded, we've been drying out our rented bodega on the bahia, where our sails, dinghy, parts and paints were stored, and where the runoff washed out the right hand lane of the bay road, creating a new inlet on the bahia. Catch 22 beach has mostly gone, and one end of the famous sand dunes has disappeared. Almost all of the gringos have gone too, we few remaining are doing what we can to help but its going to be weeks, if not months before life returns to scorching, peaceful normalcy.
FALL, 2010
At Marina Real
Chen was doing well last spring, he had a difficult episode this summer but, back aboard he seems quite happy watching Judy cook.
John does a bit of cooking too, here's a sandwich he made.
JULY - AUGUST '09
SUMMER IN THE MOUNTAINS
A road trip to Durango, then on to Broomfield to spend some time with the kids & grandkids.
Judy at ease underway, she loves driving her big truck in the mountains,
especially on dirt roads along appalling dropoffs,
hurtling downhill through tunelled ravines,
until we arrive safely in Broomfield, Colorado, to see the grandkids, Aiden, who is 4, and Glynnis hardly a year old.
Broomfield is built out on fields and marshes north of Denver,
still lovely country. The farmers grow condos out here now.
Its sometimes a bit gloomy out here on the prairie,
it was always nicer when the kids came to visit
and Chen likes them too, he had a wonderfully doggy time.
It wasn't very hot in Broomfield but the pool across the street was a good spot to cool down the afternoons.
There's a picnic shelter in the kid zone among the buildings where we'd eat and play. Judy's always so happy when she's with the kids; she's a proud mother and grandmother too.
We would visit the kids at home, too, near Boulder, where they've got a great backyard swingset.
Chen learned about lawns; we never had one in Durango and there are none in Mexico, but the condos are surrounded by well-kept lawns and the kids' backyard is a great play space. Chen had a wonderfully doggy time there too. He knew right what to do with a lawn.
We spent a delightful couple of months up in Colorado… and got back to San Carlos just in time for a hurricane.
Winter, Spring & Summer, 2010
We put a custom, innerspring mattress in the V-berth. Last summer we had tried to get a high-density foam mattress set custom made in the Boulder, CO area. We had taken our mattress covers with us for patterns, yet in spite of weeks and weeks of reassurances, the mattress company failed to deliver. After we'd recovered from the hurricane last fall we discovered that Catalina Yachts could make a folding inner spring mattress to fit. Yay Catalina! Three weeks after we ordered it we had it installed and working comfortably.
We spent a peaceful winter in Marina Real, it is such a lovely place. We also visited with our friends.
Here we are on the beach at the Soggy Peso, Mac, Jack, and John examine some Mexican currency.
Here's Chen entertaining the fleet ashore, Larry and Mary seated second, there's Carol in the left rear in a coral colored shirt, old Bob at the right. Don't know who the front couple or the other pink-shirted lady are …
Carol had kindly given us some purple sauerkraut before she & Mac returned to Utah, it went well with the local chuleta de puerco and Chen thought so too.
We actually went sailing a couple of times. We celebrated Catalina 36 Week at Marina Real while Spirit of Silverton was here. Pegasus won the only race, catching Spirit, skippered by Dennis 'Wrong Way' Stenslein going backwards at the starting line.
Spirit did protest, saying that they didn't know the race had started and besides, they were busy mixing drinks.
In any event we went way ahead, thanks to our expert sail trimmer, Michael of Cambria. You know, we've owned this boat for 5 years now and I had no idea she was that fast, nor that the sails could be trimmed as tight as drums.
AN APPEAL FOR PICS
There was a lady taking pictures aboard Spirit that day, if that was you please email us some pics of Pegasus, thanks.
San Pedro Bay
Later in the spring we cruised up the coast to San Pedro Bay where we spent a couple of days swinging peacefully at anchor under the south-east shore.
We had spent a lot of time looking at the scenery and the water and watching the silly antics of other cruisers, but then, the dog had an episode, the generator quit, and that night the wind blew …
It blew so hard, on top of the dog and the darkness that we got the willies and departed at first light, making for San Carlos again, and safe harbor.
Back at Marina Real again
Time to clean the shore power cord, we've been using it a lot. Goof Off cleaned it alright.
We spend some more, pleasant days tied up. Apart from the dock guys, two 'single handers' and some weekend sports fishers we are all alone on Dock 12.
Come July we left Pegasus on Dock 12 and headed north in the trusty truck, Chewy.
Before we leave San Carlos this year John has to say about Tony:
"Tony ran the gym where I have been working out, sometimes more, sometimes less, for two years since my surgery, Tony was a fine help, he cleaned his pool for me after the Hurricane and he enjoyed my progress all those months.
Tony died of cancer this summer. So long Tony."
We went back to Colorado again - to see the kids, to get some medical attention and then we drove quietly across the south, looking for our next life.
So, there it is, in words, the decision we are making, to quit the sea and move to shore. I love it.
Judy has published a ShutterFly photographic gallery of that 2010 Turtle Tour of Kansa, Missouri, Illinois (briefly), Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. >> Here.
… more later
SV Pegasus Home
Our first house was called the Cactus House, we had really nice, helpful neighbors; Karen lent me a wheeled walker for the first two weeks then Bruce lent me a zimmer frame walker for another two months. I plodded around the house and worked my way up to walking with a cane. The Cactus house had a small, fenced 'yard' which was great for the cat & dog, who adapted to housing in no time.
In October we moved a couple blocks toward the sea, to number 22 Vista Hermosa. A cactus at number 22 looked like a hot air balloon.
Apart from the normal geckos, spiders, snakes, butterflies, birds, bees and flies we saw some unusual wildlife too: a large moth lived out in the cloister (I had no idea that moths lived anywhere), a ringtail came by along the fence on several nights, and the largest osprey in San Carlos lived on the crane over at the Posada project.
Number 22 was but a short distance from Palapa Cove where the Posada project and our favorite restaurant are.
Pegasus spent the summer in the yard, she splashed the last week of October and we moved back aboard on Saturday November first, two thousand eight.