The tide comes in, the tide goes out. The La Paz anchorage is a half mile wide, three mile long, entrance to a much bigger lagoon. Four feet of tide running in and out creates a two knot current running east or west, depending on if it is ebbing or flooding. Add to this, a north wind and you've got an interesting anchoring situation where your boat will be facing into the wind but is also all the way forward on the anchor rode. Wind across current makes an ever present chop.
It's wise to bring up your anchor and reset every few days as the La Paz Waltz twists the anchor and rode around and around. The rich oxygenated water helps the green slime build up fast on the rode so it is also beneficial to let out 30 feet for a few days, then bring it back in to let the sandy bottom clean the ground tackle. It seems like a lot of boats have been here for a while given the shape of their sails, the growth on the hulls, and the white bird poop on the decks. Sometimes those boats break loose and start to waltz around the anchorage, especially during a good northern blow. It's not the most peaceful anchorage you can imagine.
With our starter battery bank low, we needed to come into Marina de La Paz to get a good shoreside charge, and to top off the water tanks, provision, and get the part for the water pump ordered or machined. I called into the marina and the front desk staff assured me they had no availability for the next week. So I pulled the batteries out and took them ashore in the dinghy to get the local electric guy, Victor, to see if they could be resurrected. After some shopping our friends told us that Neil, the marina manager, was trying to hail me on VHF 16. I stopped in to see him and, sure enough, he had a slip for me.
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| Nepenthe and White Raven, both crews are from Olympia WA |
The boat's at anchor with no way to start the engine and no way to raise anchor with the windlass. But now there is a slip in the marina waiting. What to do? I went to a friend (who I just met) and asked if I could borrow his batteries... his only batteries. Soon I was splashing my way out to Nepenthe with two big six volt batteries aboard. We got them hooked up, started the engine, used the windlass and brought the boat into the dock, where we removed the batteries, and put them back on my buddy's boat. Thank you Cliff and Iris.
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| 20 recreational pangas tie up at the marina |
Some of the days were so windy that we had to stay on the boat. The dinghy ride to the dock would be a wet one. When the wind is up, the port is closed and all the dive, snorkel, and kayak pangas have to stay at the dock. Occasionally a boat will come into the harbor during a wind event because "any port in a storm" is the rule. But nobody exits during a closure. Two sailboats limped into the anchorage after having a rough go of it in the 30 knot winds, 8 foot waves out beyond the harbor. On had broken steering gear and engine trouble. Another had a broken prop shaft. You really have to watch out for those strong northers and get into a hidey hole before you get stuck in big seas.
We found some shade fabric in town and started sewing a big awning cover to use in the summer when we put Nepenthe on the hard. Connie played a little bit of music at the Club CucCruceros patio and also was the first act at Capuchino's open mic night.
When our engine part was due to arrive, I again went into the office to see if we could get a slip, and again, I was told by the front desk staff that there was no room. Later, I talked to Neil and he arranged us a spot. Funny how things work here sometimes.
Part in hand, I compared it to the old part and behold.... they were not the same. The new part was missing a feature that enabled it to straddle a big nut on the pulley wheel. Dang! Foiled again.
The service manager at Klassen Diesel suggested I take it to a local machine shop so I took it to Malcolm at Custom Fabrication and Machine and he put his machinist on the job.
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| Old Part, New Part. Note the difference. |
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| Pulley nut sticks out a bit. |
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| After the machine shop's magic. |
Today I got the part back from the shop and Connie and I installed it without a hitch. We tested it and all looks good. Then we decided to treat ourselves to BBQ ribs in town. Walking through the Restaurant / Banking / Shopping district we were blown away by how far La Paz had come in the eight years since we've been here. Music on every corner. Clean streets and sidewalks. So many restaurants. Art everywhere. The Malecon was full of people roller skating, jogging, walking, biking. Ice creme shops everywhere. Clearly La Paz is a very cosmopolitan place these days.
Tomorrow we have one more day of calm winds then three days of over 20 knot winds, followed by three days of calm wind. Our plan is to run as far north as we can tomorrow, possibly to Isla San Francisco, lay low for three days, then run north again, hopefully getting into San Carlos by the 16th or 17th.
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| If it holds, this could be our crossing weather next week. |
And so we say goodbye to La Paz. We stayed a bit too long but it's a wonderful city to be stuck in.
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