Made it back to La Paz, Baja Peninsula!

December 22, 2015 – La Paz, Baja Peninsula

There’s a dusky sky with ribbons of pink and mauve streaming west to east…the sand squishes under our toes on the beach below the Malecon as we stare to the setting sun in the west and thank our lucky stars for being back in La Paz.

The malecon stretches from one end of the bay to the other.
Takes about an hour to walk to the other end.

The Malecon is coming alive as we witness the last of the painted sky and twilight descends. Families enjoy the warm evening while sitting on ornate wrought iron benches, while others are walking, biking, skateboarding, and licking ice cream cones.

Buildings along the malecon. The population is over 250,000 so
there's lots of city away from the waterfront.

Christmas day in La Paz.
Beautiful skies, temperature and great ice cream cones.

A giant lit up Christmas tree adorns the little amphitheatre where local crafts people sell their wares from rickety card tables set up for the evening. Four beautiful black haired young teenagers dressed in long sleeved blouses, short skirts and ill-fitting high heels inch their way along the sidewalk, looking very uncomfortable while trying to be chic. They respectfully say “Buenos Tardes” as they step awkwardly by our outdoor table where we’re gorging on cinnamon buns. Next block I spot a skinny Chihuahua wearing a purple tutu! So fashionable! We slowly pass an outdoor restaurant with lots of locals perched at tables enjoying chips and salsa while their meals are prepared. We pull up chairs at another outdoor table and watch the darkening evening while enjoying our Mexican dinners. Life is very good in La Paz.

We arrived at the El Magote anchorage off of La Paz on Monday, December 21 afternoon after a week of cruising from San Carlos on the northern mainland coast to our favourite Mexican city, La Paz.

Before leaving San Carlos we spent 12 days working, and having work done, on Falcon VII. She was ‘parked’ at the boat yard for the seven hottest months of the year when we went back to Canada. We know from other cruisers in the work yard that summer temperatures reached over 115°F! Other than being covered with a thick layer of dust and dirt she faired very well!

FalconVII being transported from the marina to the boat yard, 1/2 mile away.

Falcon VII is 3rd boat from the left in the 'parking lot'. They moved her
to the working boatyard for 10 days so we could get the bottom painted.

The blistering sun made fast work of the tarps cut up and used as hatch covers, heavy aluminum foil wrapped around instruments at the top of the mast used with duct tape to cover all degradable plastic on deck and at the top of the mast.

The roller furling drum is beneath this mess of tape and garbage bags.

Down below we were pleased to see and smell that everything was fine. A couple of very minor leaks, but no bugs or mustiness!

Over the next few days we worked hard at getting Falcon back in shape for cruising. We also had Star Marine staff remove our bottom paint with a grinder then layer on epoxy primer and two coats of fresh paint, something unexpected but necessary before launch. We smartly took refuge and stayed at Marinaterra Hotel located on the edge of the marina and only a 10 minute walk from the dusty boatyard. It was an inexpensive stay and well worth it, not living with toxic paint powder which coated the whole boat. We were so impressed with both Marina San Carlos and Eduardo of Star Marine. He was our project manager and assured us that his staff could grind, prime and paint Falcon’s bottom and all would be ready by launch date one week later.

True to his word, his crew were finished on time - in fact, one day earlier than quoted. That meant the paint had a full day to cure before Falcon returned to the water. We were very impressed and would not hesitate to recommend them to other cruisers.

By Friday 7:30 a.m. we were launched, docked and then worked like demons to get Falcon ready to travel. The beautiful and well run marina is surrounded by jagged mountains and a large protected anchorage. Because of the geography, high winds often whistle through the marina.

Dawn from our balcony looking south
east towards Guaymas from San Carlos.

Picturesque San Carlos Marina and anchorage under the peaks.

Someone in San Carlos has a great sense of humour!

A strong northerly wind blew for days but the weather reports predicted a one day calm weather window with relatively quiet seas and winds so we motored out of the San Carlos Marina at 2:30 a.m. Monday morning. As I stood on the bow sweeping a spot light from left to right to ensure the channel was clear, I noticed a streak in the sky. Then another and another! We witnessed a rare meteor shower most of the night! When I came back on watch at 6:00 a.m. Jim told me he stopped counting the streaking meteors when he reached 52 in the first hour. I didn’t have shooting stars but I watched a gorgeous sunrise just before a pod of porpoises came to welcome us back to the Baja.

My one and only 'selfie'.
Dawn heading for the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez.

We anchored overnight near Punta Chivato before sailing south on Tuesday with our cruising buds Gary and Karina from Sea Rover II. We had a rather boisterous sail in 13 – 30 knots of north winds.

This cell chased us for hours, often pushing 30 knots of wind with it.
We even had a few (very few) raindrops about an hour later,

Unfortunately, in our exuberance, we forgot to take the spinnaker down before she blew out a couple of very long seams. With Jim’s cool head and calming voice we quickly gathered up the mass of flapping cloth and assorted lines streaming across the deck and bundled them into a sail bag til we can get them repaired in La Paz.

We made it into the large bay at San Juanico just before dusk, tired but happy to have travelled nearly 60 miles in big seas and brisk following winds. Friends on Kialoa and Graybeard radioed a welcome to each of us. Over the next three days of howling winds we rested and attacked a few boat projects. Sometimes we just hung out in the cockpit or at the dinette talking with our cruising buds.

The Bowens enjoying our third winter in the Sea of Cortez.
Notice we actually have long pants on!

Getting some exercise after three days on the boat.

Plenty of room for lots of cruisers hiding from the winds.

Hazy skies to the south at San Juanico anchorage

This tree is a cruiser's shrine. Karina and Jim view it with interest.

That dark object in the centre is a giant tortoise shell. Hats, shells, glass,
carved signs, plastic bottles...you name it!

We joined other cruisers and
campers for a pot luck on the beach.

By Saturday, December 19th we were finally able to make a run 60 miles further south, staying in a deserted Agua Verde. We anchored with the backdrop of pumpkin orange cliffs behind us, a white sand beach fringed in turquoise water and a stunning sunset in front of us.

The sky just got better and better as evening approached.

Every now and then we caught the faint jingle jingle of bells, worn by scruffy goats wandering around the hillsides. Last year we bought goat cheese from a local resident. We waited while she pressed it for us between pieces of cheese cloth.

Two days later we were motoring down the long channel leading to La Paz. And here we are until the end of January. After a laid back Christmas Day we’ve started on boat projects, to be interspersed with a bit of socializing and catching up with cruisers we met last year.